How To Lose A Guy
by kathleen teresa
Summary: Classic LJ lovehate...this story has a point i promise...chapter twelve is uppp! bCOMPLETED!b
1. Pecks

* For those of you who are worried that I've given up on Some Hearts Just Get Lucky, never fear. I'm still working on it, I just want to get fifty reviews before I do the next chapter (hint, hint). Besides I had writers block.  Anyway, review!!*

~Disclaimer~ ::sighs resignedly:: My lawyer's making me say that I don't own any of it. Unless it's not familiar to you. Then it's mine.

**Chapter One**

Pecks 

"Liiiiiily!!"

Lily jumped as she felt herself grabbed from behind and heard her name yelled into her ear. "God, James, get OFF!!" she yelled, straining at the strong arms that held her.

"Oh come on, Lily, I was only having a little fun!"  James pecked her on the cheek.

"JAMES!" she yelled, swatting at his hands. "Let me GO!"

"Fine," he said, finally releasing her. "But don't pretend you didn't like that."

"I'm not pretending." said Lily coldly.

James shot her a knowing look and sauntered down the hallway.  Lily glared after him, running a hand through her shiny red hair.  She was a pretty seventh year with stunning green eyes and a slim figure.  A studious good girl, she had been a prefect in both her fifth and sixth years and was now Head Girl.  Unfortunately for her, James Potter was Head Boy.  He was always attempting to kiss her or hug her or basically be all over her. It infuriated her to no end and she couldn't possibly figure out why he never took the hint.  She wasn't interested!  Sure, he was hot and all, with his messy black hair, brown eyes, and good build from all his Quidditch practices, but still.  He had plenty of harpies who would go out with him in a second, so why her?

As she pondered all this, she again heard her name being called down the hallway.  Didn't he ever take a hint?  She whirled and yelled, "James! Leave me a—", stopping suddenly when she realized it wasn't James who had called her name.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Adrian! I thought you were—"

"James. I know." The tall Ravenclaw Quidditch captain grinned down at her. As usual, Lily felt her knees get weak at his smile. She had had a crush on him for the past year. She loved his brown hair, his blue eyes, his body...and he had a really great personality, too.  "You know, Lily, he's really not that bad once you get to know him."

She raised an eyebrow. "Suure, he's not."

"Hey, you could do a lot worse."

"I could?" she asked. "That's doubtful."

He grinned again, turning her knees to jelly. "Well, anyway, will you let me walk you to your next class?"

"Wh-what? That is...I mean, sure!"

"Great!" he said. "Now pray we don't meet James on the way there. I'd prefer to not be rendered sterile."

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked confusedly.

"Oh, c'mon, Lily, surely you know by now that James will rip the balls of any guy who dares look sideways at you." said Adrian, running a hand through his hair.

She laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm serious!" exclaimed Adrian, but he was laughing too.

"Fine." said Lily, barely suppressing her giggles. "If he attempts to do harm to your baby-making area, I'll make him stop."

"Deal." said Adrian. "But then, you see, I'll be needing you to escort me everywhere because once he catches me alone...well let's just say I might as well be a girl."

Lily burst into peals of laughter at the last statement and was soon joined by Adrian.

"I was serious about you escorting me everywhere though." he said once they had calmed down a bit. "Or at least just to Hogsmeade this weekend." He darted a glance sideways at her.  "But you wouldn't be..."

"I'd love to!" she interrupted.

"Great." he smiled broadly. "Well, we're at your class now so I'll be taking my leave, Miss Evans."

"Au revoir, Mr. Cooney." grinned Lily, playing along. "I shall see you again soon I hope?"

"But of course!" he said, grabbing her hand and kissing it. "I wouldn't dare be out of the presence of such beauty for too long, as I might wither away to nothing."

Lily blushed. "You are too kind."

"It's the truth." Adrian said, suddenly serious.  Then, shyly, he swooped down and kissed her on the cheek. "'Bye." he said, quickly turning and walking quickly down the hall.

"Bye." Lily whispered, gently touching the place where he'd kissed her.

*

Normally, Lily paid scrupulous attention in all her classes, especially Transfiguration, as it was her hardest.  However, today, Lily was more occupied with staring into space than she was with turning her pigeon into a dove.

"Liiilian Rosemary Evans..." trilled the voice of Lily's best friend, Madeline.  "You're not paying attention and McGonagall's coming this waa-aay!"

Lily snapped to attention and quickly pointed her wand at the pigeon, nearly poking its eye out. The pigeon squawked angrily and fluttered away a couple inches. "Re...pre... Maddy, what's the spell?"

"Geez, Lils, you really are out of it. What happened? It's _columbinus palumbes_, by the way."

"_Columbinus palumbes_." Lily flicked her wand at the pigeon.  Nothing happened at first, then a huge white feather popped out of its head. "That's not supposed to happen, is it." she said.

"Nope!" said Madeline cheerfully. "It's more of a point, swish, and flick than a flick.  Now what happened?"

"_Columbinus palumbes_."  Lily pointed, swished, and flicked. This time the pigeon sprouted white feathers out the sides of its wings and the middle of its back, giving it the appearance of a porcupine with feathers. "Oops. I'll tell you later." she grinned, in spite of her terrible attempt to transfigure her pigeon.

"Ooh, it must have been good! I can tell by the grin you have on your face.  Was it Adrian?" asked Madeline excitedly.

Lily nodded, her smile growing wider.

"Ohmigod, Lils, you have GOT to tell me now!!" cried Madeline.

"What has 'Lils' got to tell you?" asked the obnoxious voice of James Potter.

Lily sighed irritably. Only James would be able to ruin her mood. "Nothing, James. Go away." she said, just as Madeline said, "Something happened with her and Adrian!"

"Maddy!" cried Lily.

"Sorry!" said Madeline.

"What?" said James.

"Quiet!" scolded Professor McGonagall.

(All of the above happened at the same time, causing quite a ruckus.)

"What happened with Lily and Adrian?" asked James with a rather shocked sort of look on his face.

"I don't know," responded McGonagall. "but it can wait til after class.  Miss Evans, do you call that a dove?"

"Er..."

"I didn't think so. I'm afraid I'm going to have to get you a tutor."

"But, Professor!"

"No buts, Miss Evans.  I know you try hard, but you're just not getting it. You're a very smart girl, but something has to be done."

Lily sighed.  Aside from the Adrian Experience, today was shaping up to be a real bad one.

*

It wasn't til lunch in the Great Hall that Lily finally got the chance to tell Madeline and the rest of her friends, Jessie, Cara, and Shayne, about what happened with Adrian on the way to Transfiguration.

"...and then he _kissed_ me." Lily said, almost swooning as she replayed the moment in her head. "Granted it was only on the hand...and my cheek, but still. It means something!"

"It sure does." James said from over her shoulder. "It means Adrian is going dowwn."

"JAMES!" yelled Lily. "_Must_ you listen to every single conversation I have?"

"When it concerns guys like Adrian, let me think...YES."

"James Potter, you had better not do ANYTHING to Adrian and I mean it!" 

"Oh really? And just what, pray tell, will happen to me, should I do anything to him?"

Lily could feel her face heating up in anger.  "I don't know yet." she said. "but I'll think of something, don't you worry."

"Fine, your Most _Royal Highness." said James with a mocking sort of bow. "Your precious Adrian is safe...for now."_

With that, he kissed her on the cheek again and was gone before she could smack him.

"Did you see that?" she asked her friends heatedly.

"Yeah, how could we miss it?" asked Shayne sarcastically.

"He _so likes you, Lily." said Cara._

"Cool down, girl, before your head blows off!" exclaimed Jessie. "I'm half expecting to see steam coming out your ears any minute now. It's not worth it to get _that worked up about it!"_

Lily took several deep breaths. Jessie was right. There was no reason in wasting energy on James. Think about Adrian instead.  _Adrian... Lily could feel herself cooling down.  It was amazing, the effect he had on her. "Oooh, did I tell you guys he asked if he could take me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"_

She had, in fact, said this several times, but as all her friends were thrilled that she had cooled down, they pretended she hadn't.

"No way!" cried Cara, tying up her blonde hair. Cara had dark brown eyes that could get her anything as she was extremely skilled at making puppy dog eyes. She was the shortest one of the group, coming in at only 5'2.

"Lils, that's great!" exclaimed Madeline, her gray eyes flashing with excitement.  Madeline had brown hair and was the tallest out of the five of them at 5'9.  She was also the skinniest.

"What are you going to wear?" asked the fashion conscious Shayne, twirling a lock of black hair around her finger.  Shayne was a very pretty girl with tan skin and bright blue eyes and a body to kill for. At the average height of 5'6, she was the reason most guys ended up in the hospital wing with broken noses or arms from walking into walls, suits of armor, or from their falls down a long set of stairs.

"Wear your blue blouse with those black bellbottoms!" said Jessie.  Jessie was a tall black girl at 5'8, though Madeline beat her height by an inch.  She had striking ebony skin and long dark brown hair.

"The blouse is dirty.  How about a tube top?" said Lily.

"Nah, too slutty for a first date." Cara commented.

Lily fell into deciding an outfit to wear and her friends were relieved that she seemed to have forgotten the James Incident.

*

At five o'clock, Lily had to go to her Transfiguration tutoring session.  With heavy feet, she dragged herself to the door of the Transfiguration classroom and went inside.  She looked around for Professor McGonagall, but no one was in the room.  No one except...

"What are _you doing here?" cried Lily._

"Tutoring someone." said James with a knowing smirk on his face. He watched as realization slowly dawned on Lily's face. 

"Wha-? No! No, no, no, absolutely not.  Where's Professor McGonagall? I thought she'd be doing this!" she exclaimed.

"You thought wrong." grinned James. "Dumbledore decided having students tutor each other would bring the school closer together.  As I am the best in the class ("and so modest as well." grumbled Lily.), she asked me to take you."

"What, don't I get a say in this?"

"Nope, sorry. The professors decide it all.  Which means, yes, you are stuck with me.  You could at least pretend to be thrilled." he said admonishingly.

"Why would I waste my energy on that?" Lily said coolly.

"Look, you're stuck working with me until your grade starts going up. It could be a lot worse."

"Like how?"

"You could be working with Snape."

Lily grimaced. James actually had a point there.

"Fine, smarty-pants. Let's get this over with."

*Chapter one is dooone!  Anyway can I get at least 10 reviews for this chapter? (Yes, I'll settle for five...but ten would be quite nice..lol)*


	2. The Aftermath of a Big Mistake

*I looove you guys soo much!! 17 reviews for one chapter!! You're too kind, really! There's nothing like coming home to a mailbox filled with reviews.  So I'll try to make this chapter as good as possible. :). Btw can any of you help me get a livejournal account? I tried and apparently if you want to do it for free you have to get a code from someone with an account...but I don't know anyone with an account so..yea. Anyway, onto the story!*

Disclaimer  Its. Not. Mine. And I don't own Cadbury's either. Damn.

**Chapter Two**

**The Aftermath of a Big Mistake**

Lily stormed through the common room and up the stairs to the girls' dormitory in a terrible rage, leaving behind her a wake of rather confused Gryffindors. 

"What's with her?" asked a second year to her friend, who shrugged.

Lily threw open the door to her dormitory, dropped her stuff onto the floor and screamed as loudly as she could.  Jessie came running out of the bathroom. "Lily, what the—"

"I just came from a tutoring session for Transfiguration, which is bad enough in itself because I am Head Girl and therefore should be good at everything and not need to be tutored in anything, but noo, and to make matters worse guess who my tutor is!!" Lily ranted, cutting off Jessie.

"Erm..."

"JAMES FREAKING POTTER!!" she screamed.  "Would anyone like to tell me WHY he is my tutor?!?"

"Uh..."

"He is the most absolutely annoying, perverted, freaking, idiotic, moronic, stupid, dumb-ass, bothersome,--" 

"LILY!" Jessie shouted, cutting Lily off before she could list any more of James' 'attributes.' "What happened?!  I haven't seen you like this since, well, I don't know when.  Reeelax!"

Lily pouted. "He's an idiot."

"Thank you, so you've said." Jessie said calmly. "Now sit and tell me what happened."

Lily felt herself getting angry all over again as she went over it in her head again.  Fortunately, Jessie sensed this and was able to head it off. "Chocolate?" she asked, holding out a box of assorted Cadbury's chocolates. "It'll make you feel better."

Lily gave Jessie a little smile and took a Flake.  Feeling herself relax as she bit into it, she started telling Jessie what happened.

_--Flashback—_

_"So are we done now?" Lily asked irritably.  Spending a whole hour alone with James was not her idea of a good time. _

_"Almost." James replied. He hadn't made a move on her the whole time.  Except for when he tried to put his arm around her, but she had shrugged it off and he hadn't tried again. _("I should have known then it was too good to last." she said to Jessie.) __

_"Well what haven't we done?" asked Lily._

_"This." James' expression suddenly got more serious and intense than she had ever seen it before.  It sort of frightened her.  He leaned in towards her, putting his arms around her and pulling her towards him.  To late, she realized what he was going to do, but she was too mesmerized to move. He leaned in more and kissed her full on the lips._

_--Flashback­­—_

"HE KISSED YOU?!?" exclaimed Jessie, happily. "Lily, that's..." she trailed off at the thunderous expression on Lily's face. "really terrible." she finished lamely.

"Damn right it is." said Lily. "How dare he!? He knows full well that I'm not at all interested in him and he STILL goes and kisses me!!"

"More chocolate?" Jessie poked the box at Lily, who took a Crunchie this time. 

"And furthermore," Lily continued, around a mouthful of chocolate."

"Hey, don't talk with your mouth full!" said Jessie quickly, anxious to head off another Lily-rant.

Lily gave Jessie a dirty look.  Jessie calmly gave an innocent little grin back.  "C'mon, Lils, let's play Egyptian Rat Screw.  You can take your anger out on the cards."

Lily grinned.  Egyptian Rat Screw was one of her favorite Muggle card games. She had taught it to all her friends and they all loved it as well. "Okay." She said, taking out her bedraggled stack of cards. "I go first."

*

Meanwhile, James and the rest of the Marauders were up in the Astronomy tower, where they frequently met. "I made a HUGE mistake." he said, putting his face on his knees.

"What'd you do now, Prongs, and does it involve Lily?" Remus asked, while Sirius and Peter looked on curiously.

"I kissed her and yes, it does."

"You KISSED her!?!" exclaimed Sirius. " SCOOORE!! Go, Prongs!! Go, Prongs!!"

"Padfoot. Shut up." said Remus. "Can't you see our Prongs has made a terrible mistake?"

"Um,"

James sighed. "What do I do, Moony?"

"Why do you never ask me what to do, Prongs?" asked Sirius, hurt.

"Because you would tell me to go kiss her again." James said tiredly.

Sirius grinned. "You're right actually. Why, would that be bad or something."

James shot him a look.

Sirius threw up his hands in mock defeat. "Shutting up now."

"I think the only thing for you to do," began Remus. "is to apologize."

James stared at him. "Moony, are you mad?"

"It's the only chance you have of making things at least a little bit better."

"But, Moony!" exclaimed James. "That would require my getting near her.  She'll hurt me!"

Remus just looked at him. "Okay.  Here's you: 6'1, tall, and strong.  Here's her: 5'5, not so tall, and not so strong. You tell me who would win in a fight."

"Ooh!" cried Sirius, waving his hand in the air. "I know! I know! Pick me!"

"Yes, Padfoot?" said Peter, playing along.

"It's James, isn't it.  James would win!" Sirius said excitably.

"Thank you, Padfoot." Remus said dryly.  "We'd never've guessed."

"Isn't there another way, Moony?" whined James. 

"Well you could send her flowers ("she'd trash them."), chocolates ("she'd mash them into tiny bits and flush them down the toilet."), serenade her under her window ("she'd throw things at me, besides I can't sing."), or you could stop being so NEGATIVE!" tried Remus.

"Sorry, Moony, but I'm just..." James trailed off.

Remus nodded. "It's okay. How about we just try all of them.  Maybe sooner or later she'll come to her senses."

James managed a half-grin. "Alright. I'll try.  But what about this Adrian fellow?"

Sirius laughed. "That relationship won't last long."

"Why not?" 

"He's gay."

"WHAT?!" cried James.

"Then why's he acting all interested in Lily?" Remus asked.

"Oh, he just doesn't know he's gay yet and he's trying to fight it."

"Oh."

"You know, Padfoot, surprisingly enough, that made sense." commented James.

"Why thank you, Prongs." James' comment sank in a little more. "Hey!"

James laughed and scooted out of reach. "Now where can I get some nice flowers?"

"Are you a wizard skilled at Transfiguration or not?" asked Remus pointedly.

*chapter two is done! ::cheers:: and YAY! There are cliffhangers!! ::grins:: that means you need to review a lot and then you'll find out what happens!! Can I see fifteen more reviews? Or possibly can we break thirty? Or twenty-five at least? ::grins::  Love you all!!*


	3. Not Again!

*man you guys are awesome...twenty-nine reviews!! I love you all (in a strictly platonic way...lol)  Oh, and if any of you were wondering why I made Adrian gay...i liked his character (and his name) too much to make him one of those perverted girl-using assholes.*

Responses

_Julia & Malu_ ~ your review was definitely, by far, the most interesting review I've ever read.  lol I was highly entertained. Anyway, I had a comment about the whole James being strong vs. Harry weak thingie...just cuz harry was rather weak, it doesn't necessarily mean that James was weak(ish).  Besides, Harry's two years younger than his dad is in this story so therefore, James has a two-year advantage and is more into his body (pretend that made sense...lol) than harry is.  Plus it sounded better.  Anyway, review again...i liked reading it. :)

_Babygal_ ~ in answer to your concerns that I not do slash with Remus and Adrian. Don't worry. I love gay people and all, but I don't do slash. I just...no.  Besides, I fully believe that Remus is straight...i'm not getting a gay vibe from him (whatever that means...lol)

~Disclaimer~ I don't own anything that seems recognizable to you...including dear Abby.

**Chapter 3**

Lying in bed later that night, Lily again went over the day's interesting events in her head.  As she got to what happened in the Transfiguration classroom, she expected to feel a surge of anger against James.  Oddly enough, she didn't.  She felt more, well, butterfliey, like there were butterflies in her stomach.  She could again see what had happened in her head...what she _hadn't _told Jessie.

_--Flashback—_

_"This." James' expression suddenly got more serious and intense than she had ever seen it before.  It sort of frightened her.  He leaned in towards her, putting his arms around her and pulling her towards him, though he didn't have to work too hard to get her to him. She could feel her feet moving towards him of their own accord. _

_His eyes were mesmerizing her, trapping her in their gaze.  She couldn't look away.  She couldn't do much of anything except move closer.  He was going to kiss her.  She knew it. She wanted him to kiss her.  She blinked, wondering where that thought had come from.  Before she could ponder it too much though, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her.  She kissed him back before she could think about it.  She didn't want this to end, it felt so right!  _

_Then it hit her. Hit her like a bus.  She was kissing JAMES POTTER.  The guy she had hated since she had first lain eyes upon him. She broke away from the kiss as quickly as she could.  "What was that?!" she demanded._

_"Erm...a kiss?" said James, blushing a little._

_"Why?"_

_"Because...because..." he stammered, searching for a reason._

_She felt slightly hurt.  He didn't even have a reason for kissing her.  Or no, he did...she was pretty, that was always the reason. She felt anger surging through her veins at the thought.  "Get away from me." she hissed. "I never want to speak to you again."_

_Ignoring the hurt look on his face as best she could, she stormed out of the room, only pausing to grab her stuff._

_--Flashback—_

She had WANTED him to kiss her.  She couldn't believe it.  What was wrong with her?  She had Adrian to kiss now.  _Forget about it. _she told herself.  _It was a fluke.  That's all_.

With that semi-comforting thought, Lily closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep.  However, she laid awake contemplating it for much longer than she had planned.

*

The next morning at breakfast, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were all urging James to talk to Lily, to apologize.

"But...but...look at her!" James exclaimed. "She's surrounded by her friends.  There is absolutely no way in hell I'm talking to her now."

"Fine." sighed Remus, wondering why _he _was always the Dear Abby of the group.  "Get her alone and apologize then."

"But I'll need witnesses for when she fatally wounds me!"

"_James_!"  Remus was reaching his wits end. "Are you a man or a mouse?"

"Squeak."

Remus threw an irritated glance at the ceiling, which was blue with clouds scudding across it.

"Don't be silly, Prongs." said Sirius. "Just because you've screwed up with a girl, it's no reason to have an identity crisis.  You're the _stag_.  Wormtail's the mouse."

"Rat, actually." corrected Peter.

James halfheartedly threw a piece of toast at Sirius' head.  It crash-landed in his hair and slid down his face and onto his plate.  "Ooh! Toast!" cried Sirius, as if he'd never seen it before, picking it up.  Instead of putting it into his mouth, however, he pegged it at James' head.  Unfortunately, he missed and hit Peter instead, who took the toast and hit Remus, who was sitting diagonal from him, instead of Sirius, who was sitting across from him.  Sirius took the toast and randomly pegged it at a third year, yelling "Food fight!"

The unfortunate third year loaded up his spoon with oatmeal and aimed it at Sirius, but missed and hit a second year Ravenclaw sitting behind him.  The Ravenclaw wiped her neck with her hand, grabbed her oatmeal, and dumped it on her friend's head.  

An all-out food fight ensued, covering the Great Hall and the majority of students and teachers with an assortment of food.  At one point, James was sure he saw Dumbledore flinging a bit of oatmeal a Professor Sprout.  All too soon though, McGonagall came making her way through the throng of food-throwing kids.  "Black!" she hollered as she slipped on a banana peel and landed in a blotch of oatmeal.

Sirius wiped a bit of oatmeal out of his eye. "Yes, Professor?" he asked innocently.

"My office! Now!"

"But, Professor--!"

"Now, Black!"

Sirius grinned at the Marauders, helped McGonagall up, and marched behind her out the doors.  

*

Dumbledore had stopped the fight soon after and told everyone to go back to their dormitories and clean up before their first class.  Lily and her friends had been giggling uncontrollably the whole way up.  Jessie was happy to see that Lily seemed to be in a much better mood than she had been the previous night.  At the moment, she was laughing with Shayne. "You should have seen the look on your face when Jacklyn pegged you with her omelette!" she exclaimed, helping Shayne pull the yellow pieces of egg out of her hair.

Shayne laughed. "And then yours when Maddy got you with her orange juice.  Your blouse is so orange! It almost matches your hair!"

Lily giggled as they entered their dormitory. "I dibs the shower first!" she cried, racing Cara and Madeline for it.  Having won, she slammed the door in their faces, laughing too hard for words.  Cara and Madeline collapsed against the floor, laughing.  "Come on, Lils! Hurry up!" yelled Jessie.  "You're not the only one with crap in your hair!"

*

Lily was the first one successfully cleaned and changed, so she told her friends that she'd see them in class and, picking up her books for Herbology, skipped down the stairs to the common room.  Upon first glance, the common room appeared empty, so she paid it no heed on her way through.  However, unbeknownst to her, James was flopped in one of the armchairs, staring broodingly into the fire when he heard her, humming her way towards the portrait hole.  Remus, who was curled up comfortably in the other armchair, gave James a significant look. "Go." he mouthed.  At James' pleading look, Remus gave him a sharp look and pointed towards the portrait hole. "Go." he mouthed again.

Seeing that Remus wouldn't take no for an answer, James hauled himself out of the chair and scurried off after Lily.

He overtook her as she passed a statue of Molina the Moronic.  Sucking up his pride, he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" Lily said as she turned. "Oh. It's you. Go away."

"Will you listen to me?" he asked.

"What do you have to say that would possibly interest me?" she asked, wondering how exactly he brought out the bitch in her.

"Look, Lily," James said, starting to get angry. "I'm trying to apologize here!"

"Apologize for _what_, exactly?" asked Lily, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"For kissing you."  James knew the instant he said it that he had made a huge mistake.

"Oh, so you're saying that kissing me was a mistake?  That you didn't mean to do it?" Lily's pride had been damaged and she was extremely angry. "Well, I've got news for you, buddy." she said, poking him in the chest. "You're not that great of a kisser anyway. I've had better."

James was highly infuriated now.  He grabbed her hand from his chest. "You know, Lily," he began. "you should never tell a man he's a bad kisser."

"Why's that?" she demanded, attempting to wrench her hand from his strong grasp.

"Because," he said, yanking at her hand and pulling her closer. "It makes him want to try again."

Lily's mouth formed a small 'O' and she tried even harder to get her hand out of his grip.  Unfortunately, she made the mistake of looking into his eyes again.  The eyes that didn't want to let her go, the eyes that were just as intense as they were the night he had kissed her.  The eyes she couldn't tear her sight away from.

*Cliffhangers!! You know you love them...or not...lol.  Will James and Lily kiss again? ::grins wickedly:: Erm...lets go for ten reviews again...boost it up to forty! And then I'll update.  **Quick note**: you might want to have that happen before Thursday, as I'm going away to what might as well be the desert Friday. (My grandparents are computer illiterate so the chances of an update happening this weekend are pretty slim. So review away! {Sorry this is so short btw...it seemed long when I was writing it...}*


	4. You're Not A Subtle Person, Lily

*hehe I looove reviews.  They motivate me to write lol.  and my birthday's in less than a week so I'm pretty happy. =) anyway review!*

Disclaimer once again I wasn't fast enough to copyright the storyline...::sigh:: JK beat me to it so now she's the millionairess instead of me...lol

**Chapter 4**

            Lily couldn't explain the thoughts running through her head.  However, it did seem like the majority of them wanted her to kiss James.  She couldn't fathom that.  Although, at the moment, the idea of kissing James again didn't seem all that repulsive.  She was still trapped in his eyes.  She couldn't even blink.  He was moving in, still looking into her eyes, still holding her under his spell.  She couldn't let him kiss her again, wanted him to kiss her, hated him, liked him; it was all so confusing!  His eyes were closing slightly, she could feel herself leaning in too.  Her eyelids were starting to close as well.  She couldn't let it happen again, but she wanted it so much!  Using up all her effort, she pushed away from him just as their lips touched.  "NO!" she yelled with all her might.  He was standing there looking hurt and possibly, sad? "Get away from me!!" she yelled, turning on her heel and fleeing.

James stood there for several seconds after Lily had disappeared.  _Well, that went smashingly_, he thought to himself wryly.  He didn't understand what she had against him.  All he knew was that she was gorgeous, fiery, and had an entirely irritating way of getting under his skin and making him do things he didn't want to do in the first place, like kissing her.  He ran a hand through his hair.  She was just scared.  That was it.  She was scared of getting into a relationship, especially with someone like him.  He momentarily regretted all the girls he had had flings with in the past.  No, wait, that couldn't be it.  She was 'with' Adrian, even if that wasn't going to last.  He sighed.  He'd get Lily Evans if it was the last thing he did.  For now, it was time to consult with the Marauders.  After he went to Arithmancy, that is.

*

Lily didn't know why she had broken away from James, just that she needed to get away from there as quickly as humanly possible.  She didn't like the feelings that arose in her when he was around.  It freaked her out to no end.  She was clearly disconcerted.  She needed to talk to someone, to rant wildly.  She had to find Jessie.  Jessie was the best listener, plus she always had chocolate.  Feeling slightly comforted, Lily quickened her pace a bit.  She walked around the corner and smack into a guy.  Praying like crazy that the guy wasn't James, she looked up.  "Adrian!" she cried, visibly relieved.

"Hey, Lily." he said, smiling at her.

"What's up?" she asked, falling into step with him.

"Nothing really. Have you had any run-ins with the all-terrible James Potter?" he teased lightly.

She didn't know why, but she wanted to tell him everything that'd happened with James recently.  She quickly squashed the urge as it's not the best idea in the world to tell your potential boyfriend that you've been kissed by the guy you hate and that you're not sure if you hate him anymore. "Not really." she lied.  "What about you?"

He laughed, remembering their earlier conversation. "Nah.  Where are you headed?"

"Oh, um..." she trailed off.  She didn't have the slightest idea where she was going.  Damn James!  Suddenly she remembered. "Oh! Herbology! Oh shit, I'm late! I've gotta go, I'll see you later." 

Adrian looked slightly bewildered by her abrupt exit, but nodded amiably. "Sure, Lily.  See ya."  He ducked his head a bit and kissed her on the cheek before she ran off down the hall, her dark red hair streaming behind her.

Lily sprinted out the front doors and across the lawn til she reached Greenhouse Four.  "Sorry I'm late, Professor Sprout." she said breathlessly.

"Grab an Atomic Dogweed." Professor Sprout said distractedly; a Bug-Eating Viper plant had mistaken a mole on her neck for a bug and she was attempting to dissuade it. "They're over on the table there."

Feeling incredibly lucky that she hadn't gotten into trouble, Lily did as she was told, squeezing into a seat between Jessie and Madeline.

"Where were you?" hissed Jessie.

"Yeah, we were worried-ish." whispered Madeline.

"It's a long story..." Lily responded quietly.

"We've got time." commented Jessie. "Sprout's letting us talk while we do something to these plants.  What were we supposed to do, Maddy?"

"Erm, I think we're supposed to be feeding them this fertilizer."

Lily lifted up the bag.  "'Napalm for Atomic Dogweeds ONLY'" she read off the label. "We're feeding these things NAPALM?!"

Madeline raised her eyebrows.  "I guess that's why we have these fire-proof gloves." she said, throwing a pair to Jessie and passing another to Lily as she put hers on.

Lily opened the bag and peered into it.  "It, ah, doesn't look _that_ bad." she said hesitantly.

"Nah," said Jessie sarcastically. "Just a whole lot of fiery coal-like things that break when you touch them, exposing their flaming insides." She had just broken one open and was trying to extinguish the flames that had caught on her gloves.

"Miss Bailey! Did I not tell you to use the tongs when removing the Napalm Fertilizer from the bags?" Professor Sprout's voice froze Jessie mid-breath.

"Er.."

"Use the tongs, Miss Bailey."

"Yes, Professor."

Jessie rolled her eyes and picked up the tongs.  "Anyway, Lils, why were you late?"

"Well, it started with James."

"Why am I _not _surprised?" asked Madeline, smiling. "But if it's his fault, why aren't you in a worse mood?"

"Adrian." said Jessie knowledgably.

Lily blushed. "Yeah. James caught up with me in the hall after I left you guys to get here and I think he was trying to apologize for what happened the other night, but—"

"Wait, slow down!" Madeline exclaimed. "What happened the other night?"

"Think _really _hard, Maddy." Jessie said, making kissy lips.

They watched as realization quickly dawned on Madeline's face. "Oh! He—oh my god, Lily, why didn't you tell me!?  Never mind, carry on."

"Anyway, I think I made things about fifty thousand times worse by yelling at him and then," she blushed again, remembering. "I told him he wasn't that great a kisser anyway."

"Lily!" cried Madeline

"You didn't!" Jessie put her face in her hands.

"I did." Lily affirmed. "Then he said that I shouldn't tell a man, since when is he a man anyway?, that he's a bad kisser because it makes him want to try again...." she trailed off.

"Oh, man, Lily." Jessie was tugging at her hair.

Madeline dropped the bit of Napalm Fertilizer she was holding. "He kissed you again didn't he?!"

"Tried to." Lily amended. "I freaked the second his lips touched mine and told him to get away from me.  Then I ran."

"Liiiiiiily!" moaned Madeline, while stamping out the flames that her Napalm Fertilizer had started.

"You're not a subtle person, Lily." Jessie said dryly.

Lily gave a half grin. "I didn't have time for subtle.  I went around the corner and Adrian was there.  We talked for a bit and then I realized I was late and he kissed me on the cheek and I ran here." Lily smiled, lightly touching the spot where Adrian had kissed her.

Madeline and Jessie exchanged looks.  "Lily?" Jessie said hesitantly.

"Yess?" Lily asked dreamily.

"Er, we heard something about Adrian..." Madeline trailed off.

That got Lily's attention. "What about Adrian?" she asked.

"Well," Jessie screwed up her courage and spit it out. "He's gay."

"Or so we've been told." Madeline put in quickly.

"How the hell can he be gay?!" asked Lily, thunderstruck. "He's interested in me and last I checked, I wasn't a guy!"  She wheeled on Madeline. "Who'd you hear this from?"

Madeline gulped.  Lily could be very scary at times.  Over her shoulder Jessie was shaking her head "no," silently signaling for Madeline not to tell Lily.

"I can't remember." Madeline told Lily, cringing a little.

"How can you not remember someone who told you your best friend's crush is gay?!" Lily cried agitatedly.

"Well, we just overheard people talking about it..." Madeline lied.

"At the Ravenclaw table." finished Jessie.

Lily looked suspiciously between Madeline and Jessie.  They were hiding something and she was going to find out what.

*

Remus took one look at James' face as he walked into the common room and wanted to hurl himself into the fire.  "You kissed her again, didn't you."

James sighed for about the millionth time that day. "Yes."

Sirius looked up.  "Yeah, Prongs!!  Was she any good?!"

"Yeah..." said James trailing off dreamily.

"Padfoot." Remus said warningly. "Try not to encourage him."

"Sorry, Moony, but I _had_ to know."

Remus rolled his eyes.  There was such thing as having too many hormones.  "Okay so, Prongs, what exactly happened?"

"Er...I tried to apologize...but then she said I wasn't a good kisser...so then I—"

"So you kissed her."

"She said you weren't a good kisser?!" exclaimed Sirius. "Ouch, man. Ouch."

"So I said that she should tell a man that he's a bad kisser 'cuz it'd make him want to try again and she looked like she was going to say something but she kind of looked at me and didn't look away and then I don't know what came over me, I swear, but I started leaning in to kiss her and our lips touched and she FLIPPED!" rambled James very quickly.

"Oh. You didn't actually kiss her then?" asked Sirius disappointedly.  "So that means you still owe her a kiss to prove her wrong.  Unless of course you actually are a bad kisser, not that I'd know, in which case you'd not be wanting to do any kissing anytime in the near future, but then again—"

"PADFOOT!" exclaimed Remus.

"—what do I know, I've never been told—sorry, what?" Sirius broke off.

"Please.  For the love of God.  Shut up." 

Sirius grinned. "Shutting up now."

"Anyway, James, since apologizing to her face doesn't seem to be working for you, we're going to have to resort to other things." continued Remus.

"Such as?" asked James curiously.

"We'll start with the flowers.  Pray she's not allergic."

"Send her lilies!" interjected Peter.  

"Yeah, good idea, Wormtail!" exclaimed Sirius, high-fiving him.

"That is a good idea, Moony." said James slowly.

"Okay so there's that down.  Here." Remus threw a pillow at James. "Transfigure that into a bouquet of lilies."

James quickly did so, turning the crimson pillow into a beautiful bouquet of tiger lilies complete with baby's breath and a light blue ribbon tied around the stalks.

"Nice job, Prongsie!" said Sirius.

"Yeah, not bad." Remus said thoughtfully.  "I think she likes the color blue too. But I'm not entirely sure."

"Bonus points if it is." commented Peter.

"Tiger-lilies...it fits." James said dryly.  "She's like a tiger when she's mad."

Sirius laughed heartily at that. "Yeah and it's almost always directed at you."

James gave a sad little half-smile. "Why is that?"

*Wow this is a lot longer than I expected. ::grins:: feel loved.  Anyway, since I know you all love cliffhangers SO much (::readers throw tomatoes and other rotten food at author::) here they are! Is Adrian really gay? Will Lily ever find out?  Will James' next attempt at apologizing to Lily work?  Is her favorite color blue? And, most importantly, will they kiss again? Or, will Adrian ever kiss Lily on the lips? Review, review, review!!*


	5. They're Just Flowers!

*::cheers:: hi, my name is Kathi and I LOVE my reviewers!! Nine reviews in one day! ::chokes up:: hehe had to get that out of my system. Hehe I love Fred and George...i just finished the chapter in OotP where they tell Peeves to "give her hell from us." I got chills. Chills I tell you.  Anyway, I know I've asked this before but can anyone help me set up a livejournal account? ::smiles innocently:: since you love me all so much...hehe if u can help email me at kathleenmavourneen01@yahoo.com pease!*

Responses

**Dangerous Love** ~ happy birthday! Feel loved, I listened to you and I'm posting on your birthday! (even though by the time you read this it'll probly be tomorrow but...you get the idea =))

**Brook **~ Lily's a little dense at times, especially when it comes to guys like James, so she might not be realizing her true feelings for a while or she will, but she'll fight them like crazy. I haven't quite decided yet. Lol

**Chapter 5**

**They're Just _Flowers_!**

Tired after a long stressing day of classes and guys (especially ones by the name of James Potter...), Lily slumped through the common room, ignoring the falsely innocent looks of the Marauders who were camped out around the fireplace.  _Everywhere I go_, she started ranting in her head as she pushed open the door to her dormitory. And promptly froze.  There was an absolutely huge, absolutely gorgeous bouquet of tiger lilies on her bed.  _Adrian!_ she immediately thought, for who else would leave her a huge bouquet of lilies? 

She dropped her stuff in the doorway, her exhaustion momentarily forgotten and rushed over to her bed.  The lilies were even tied with a blue ribbon, in her favorite shade! She searched for a card and found a pretty little one that matched the bow hanging from the ribbon.  Lily wasted no time opening it.  She read it, frowned, and read it again.  It said simply:

_I'm sorry._

She blinked.  What could Adrian possibly have to be sorry for? He hadn't done anything offensive that she knew of, not like that infuriating James—JAMES! Realization hit her like a train hitting a brick wall.  James couldn't possibly've, no, no, it was too ridiculous to even consider.  _But..., _she shook her head.  _Stop considering it!_ she scolded herself.  She didn't know what to do.  Should she confront James? Should she assume the flowers came from Adrian?  If they came from James, should she accept his apology? It _was _only a kiss after all.

*

Meanwhile, back in the common room, the Marauders were anxiously staring at the stairway to the girls' dormitory.  "Do you think she saw them?" asked James, not removing his eyes from the stairwell.

"How could she not?" asked Remus, going back to his book.

"Well, we haven't heard any roars of anger yet..." Sirius said, trailing off.

"She could have assumed they came from Adrian..." Remus said tentatively.

"Oh, that would be bad." said Sirius, nodding.

"I told you, you should have signed your name, James." Peter spoke up.

James shot Remus a look.  "Then she would have shot down here and stuffed the flowers up my nose." he complained.

Whatever reply Remus was going to make, it was cut off by the arrival of Lily and the flowers in the common room.  The Marauders, being the only four in there at the moment, froze and tried to pretend they weren't watching her as she made her way over.  "James." she said. "Can we talk?"

James darted a glance over at Remus who nodded imperceptibly. "Ah, sure." James said, pretending he wasn't at all worried about getting the flowers shoved up his nose or somewhere he wasn't about to mention...

He got up and followed her, pretending to ignore Sirius's rather loud stage whisper of "Don't kiss her!!"  

_Thank you, Padfoot_, he thought wryly. _Not like I haven't learned my lesson the last two times_.

As soon as they had left the common room, Lily whirled on him.  "Did you send me these?!" she hissed in a furious whisper, shaking the flowers in his face.

"Erm, yes? I mean, yeah. Yeah I did. What's your problem?" said James, quickly recovering himself and sounding haughtier than he had planned.

The question seemed to take Lily aback.  "I—" she stopped and tried again. "I—I just wish you had signed your name, is all." she said.

"Why? Who else would have sent you flowers?" he asked.  The minute the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could take them back.  Her green eyes were flashing the intensity of a bolt of lightning. "Er, sorry?" he attempted to apologize.

"I thought ADRIAN had sent me the flowers, thank you very much, Potter!" she yelled.  "Contrary to what you _seem_ to believe, I am not some hideous old hag who never gets flowers!!"

"I DON'T think you're some hideous old hag.  Besides, your precious ADRIAN wouldn't send you flowers!!" James shouted back.

"Oh, really?" she asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "And why, might I ask, is that?"

"BECAUSE HE'S GAY!!" bellowed James.

Lily's jaw dropped.  Clearly whatever she was expecting him to say, it wasn't that.  "HOW DARE YOU!!" she shrieked.  "Are you implying that I'm so manly that only a GAY guy would be interested in me!?"

"No! I'm not!" cried James. "If you'd stop jumping to conclusions for ONE measly second, you'd realize that I'm TRYING to tell you the truth, but you're so PREDJUDICED against me that you won't LISTEN!!"

Silence greeted this last outburst.  Lily was furiously trying not to cry.  "So let me get this straight," she said in a voice a little higher than a whisper. "basically you think that there's something about me that makes no one send me flowers unless it's an apology.  Fine.  Bye."  With that, she climbed back through the portrait ("Squeaky toy.") and disappeared from sight, leaving James standing in the middle of the hall feeling quite idiotic.  "Stupid." he muttered. "Just _had_ to go and lose your temper again."

With great foreboding, he went back through the portrait hole.  The rest of the Marauders were still sitting around the fire.  They had been staring at the portrait hole since Lily had stormed through, waiting for him.  Sirius was the first to break the silence, as usual.  "Well."

Remus was massaging his temples. "We heard you yelling."

Peter put his face in his hands. "You probably should have tried to keep your temper."

James glared at Peter. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"At least you didn't kiss her again." pointed out Sirius, ever the optimist.

"He has a point." spoke up Remus.

James slid into the nearest chair.  "Now what do I do, Moony?  I've clearly made everything ten times worse.  Now she thinks I think that there's something about her that makes no one send her flowers unless it's as an apology."

"We heard." Sirius commented.

Remus was at a loss for words.  "Send her chocolate?" he suggested lamely.

"That _was_ next on our list of things to apologize to Lily with." Sirius said.

"Sign your name this time, though." advised Peter. "Maybe you can avoid another row."

"Or maybe she'll come downstairs with the chocolates and bash me over the head with them." James said sarcastically.

"Or that." agreed Sirius, not giving James any consolation.

"Well, it's not like we have a better plan." Remus said.

"Alright." grumbled James.  "We'll send her—"

"YOU'LL send her chocolates." corrected Sirius.

"Thank you, Padfoot." James said dryly. "I'LL send her chocolates and, yes, Wormtail, I'll sign my name." He sighed heavily and buried his face in his hands.

*

The next day, after classes, Madeline headed to the library to escape a furious Lily, who was still steaming over what happened with James the previous night.  Madeline was the smartest, most studious one out of the group and therefore going to the library didn't provoke a lot of suspicion from anyone.  

She walked quietly into the library, surprised to find that there wasn't an empty table anywhere.  She supposed most people were trying to escape the wrath of Lily, but then again they could just be feeling extra bookish at the moment.  She stood on tiptoe, trying to find an empty table.  She didn't see any and was about to leave when a semi-empty table caught her eye.  There was only one boy sitting at it and as he didn't seem to be particularly distracting, like most boys, she decided to ask if she could sit with him.

"Excuse me?" she said upon reaching the table.  The boy looked up, exposing her to the most dazzlingly gray pair of eyes she had ever seen.  A smile quirked his lips and she realized she had been staring. "I was...I was wondering if anyone else was sitting here?"

"Nah, have a seat." he said, gesturing to a chair next to him.  "My name's Remus Lupin." he said as she sat down.

"I'm Madeline Arthur." she said, smiling a bit.  "What are you reading?"

"Well, I'm not really reading." he said, grinning sheepishly. "I'm trying to figure out a way to help my friend get the girl he wants."

"James." 

Remus was momentarily surprised. "Yeah, actually.  How did you know?"

Her smile expanded into a grin, amazing him.  "Well the girl he wants just so happens to be my dear friend—"

"Lily." he finished. "Well. This is interesting." He leaned back on the chair legs and put his hands behind his head.

"You can say that again." Madeline agreed.  "She's in a terrible temper because of him."

Remus winced. "Yeah. I saw. Well, heard really, but you get the idea."

"Did he really tell her he thought that, er, what was it?" She scrunched up her eyes, thinking.

"' that there's something about her that makes no one send her flowers unless it's as an apology'?" quoted Remus.

"Yeah." Madeline relaxed her face. "That."

"Nah, he didn't say that, she assumed it.  Basically it's a classic case of misunderstanding." He rolled his eyes.

"Ah, I see.  We should do something about them!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Remus wobbled on the chair legs in surprise and fell forwards, bringing the chair down with a loud THUNK! "I mean, what?"

"Play matchmaker!" Madeline was grinning in anticipation.

"I'm not very good at that..." he said hesitantly.

"It's okay!" she grinned. "It's fun.  Besides, they can't hate each other any more!"

"Eh, I wouldn't be so sure." commented Remus. "Besides. He doesn't hate her.  He actually likes her quite a bit.  She just rubs him the wrong way."

"Ah, true love." sighed Madeline sarcastically. "They're perfect for each other.  If they'd just stop fighting or arguing or avoiding each other for a second, they'd realize it!"

"You're right." agreed Remus. "Anyway, getting down to business, he's sending her chocolates to apologize for the most recent turn of events."

"Good idea." Madeline nodded approvingly. "She loves chocolate.  Get her Cadbury's.  She likes that even more than Honeydukes'."

"Okay.  Question, can you transfigure name brands? Oh well, we'll find out." he said, answering his own question.

"Transfigure?!" exclaimed Madeline, appalled. "No, no, no. You've got to spend money on it.  The bigger the mistake, the more you spend, or, in this case, the bigger the box.  Slightly materialistic, I know, but you haven't seen Lily when she has her chocolate."

"Ah.  But we can't mail order Cadbury's." pointed out Remus.

"Yes, you can." said Madeline. "You just can't do it directly from the store.  You have to send the owl to your family or someone who lives near Muggle settlements and have them pick it up, then send it to you."

"You're brilliant!" exclaimed Remus.

Madeline blushed. "Thank you.  Now I have a question for you.  Is Adrian really gay?"

Remus grinned. "I was wondering when you'd ask that.  I honestly don't know, but Sirius seems to think so.  Then again, Sirius is a raging, walking hormone so I can't exactly trust him to be thinking with the right head."

Madeline looked at him for a second, then, once she got it, she burst into peals of laughter, muffled by her hand. "That's good!" she exclaimed.

"Why, thank you." grinned Remus. "Come on, let's go order those Cadbury's before Lily kills James while he's sleeping."

"We'll try to restrain her, I promise." Madeline said, still laughing.

At that moment, Madeline felt a pair of eyes boring into her back. Turning, she saw the vulture-like Madame Pince shooting daggers at them from behind her desk. "Hey, we should probably get out of here.  Madame Pince is looking rather cheesed off at us."

"Cheesed off?" asked Remus. "Where'd that come from?"

Madeline grinned. "It's something I heard Shayne's mother say once. C'mon, let's get out of here."

Remus nodded and stood up gathering his stuff and Madeline's.  She blushed. "You don't have to..."

He stopped her. "Please.  I insist."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he was already on his way out the library.  She smiled to herself.  _What a gentleman_.

*okay so I had another ending for this but it was wayy pathetic.  Basically it was me filling up space because my dear readers wanted me to write longer chapter.  I like this ending better. All in favor of Madeline and Remus, say 'aye'!  ::chorus of 'ayes'::. anyway in case you haven't read the update for some hearts yet, I'm going to be in a place where computers are practically nonexistent. ::reviewers gasp simultaneously:: so the chances of me updating anytime in the next week are next to nothing.  I will try though, but no promises.  Anyway review!!*


	6. Never Transfigure Dust Bunnies

*okay so I'm suffering from an acute case of writer's block at them moment, but what else is new?  Forgive me if this chapter sucks and review anyway! Merci beaucoup to all of you who reviewed last time, luv ya muchly!

Responses

**Manny** ~ yeah, Madeline is kind of going behind Lily's back on this, but it adds a nice twist.  And I wouldn't really say she's helping James...more like she and Remus are helping each other help their friends (and helping to save each other from possibly insanity should this go on...). did that make sense?

~**Disclaimer**~ nope, don't own any of it. 

**Chapter 6**

**Never Transfigure Dust Bunnies**

"He's _such_ an ass." complained Lily to Cara.  They were on the couch in the common room and Lily was still agitated by James.  She had her face buried in her hands at the moment.

"Shh, Lils, I know." soothed Cara, rubbing Lily's back. "But don't you think it's time you got out of this temper you're in? You're scaring the first years!"

Lily grinned into her hands. "Am I really?"

"You're scaring everyone." 

"Good."

"I'm serious, Lily.  You need to calm down. It's not good for your blood pressure." chided Cara.

Lily lifted her face out of her hands and looked at Cara. "What are you, my doctor?"

"Yeah. I am." she responded sarcastically. Then, in an attempt to change the subject, she said, "Well, tomorrow's your big date with Adrian!  Have you decided on what you're going to wear?"

The effect it had on Lily was instantaneous. "Nah, I haven't." she said. "I'm still torn between my denim bellbottoms with the little rainbow on the back pockets and my pink button down blouse or my black bellbottoms with my white blouse."

"I think the black and white outfit seems a little overdressed for Hogsmeade." advised Cara. "What about wearing the white blouse with the denim jeans?"

Lily considered this.  "I could wear that white tank-top I have under the blouse and leave it unbuttoned." she said slowly.  "I don't think I want to wear those jeans though."

"You're right." agreed Cara. "The rainbow _might_ be a bit tacky for a date. What about those dark denim flares you have?  They're pretty decent.  It'll be less dressy than the black flares but more dressy than the regular denim jeans."  Inwardly, she sighed with relief.  Lily was distracted...if only for a little bit.

*

Remus led Madeline down the hallway on the seventh floor.  "Good, they're here." he said.

"I didn't know there was a room up here..." Madeline said, with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Well, technically there's not.  Or there is, it's just not noticeable."  Noticing Madeline looking at him in askance, he smiled.  "It's the Room of Requirement." he explained. "It becomes whatever you need it to be.  Now come on, they're probably wondering where I am."

Still feeling rather confused, Madeline followed Remus into the room.  James, Sirius, and Peter were sitting in cushy red chairs around the fireplace.   She noticed pictures on the walls of various animals, but mainly of stags, wolves, dogs, and rats.  She shuddered involuntarily.  She didn't like rats.

"Mooony, what's she doing here?"  Sirius asked, peering around his chair at Madeline.  "Not that I'm complaining, mind you, she's very very pretty. But, I thought we had a pact, you know,"

"Not letting any outsiders know about this..." finished James.

"Oh, relax you guys." Remus said, leading Madeline to an armchair. "Here, sit down.  She can help us with the Lily Problem.  We need another armchair."

Madeline jumped slightly as a chair appeared next to hers.  "The Lily Problem?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  "That's interesting."

"It was the first thing I thought of." muttered Remus.

She nodded. "Ah." Then, turning to James, she said, "Alright, so you're going to send her chocolates next?"

"Er, yeah." James said, slightly taken aback by her take-charge mode. "How much did you tell her, Moony?" 

"Pretty much everything. Don't look at me like that, you guys.  She's exactly what we need!  She's our inside to Lily, which is something you're in desperate need of, James.  She can help you understand Lily a little better." 

James' eyebrow twitched.  "O-kay." he said slowly.  "Yeah, I was going to transfigure and send her chocolates."

Madeline cringed.  _Guys_.  "First off," she started. "Spend _mon-ey_ on her.  Don't just transfigure the chocolate, buy it!  Like I told Remus, yes, I know it sounds superficial, but it shows you made an effort, therefore showing you care."

Silence greeted this remark.  The Marauders were all staring at Madeline with looks of complete and utter confusion in their eyes.  She bit her lip.  This was going to take some work.

Sirius raised his hand hesitantly.  "Erm, how will she know the difference?"

Madeline shrugged.  "Dunno.  However, in the off chance she finds out how you got it, she'll be more pleased finding out you bought it than finding out you waved your wand a bit and turned a dust bunny into a box of chocolates."

"I wasn't going to transfigure a dust bunny!" exclaimed James indignantly.

"I know." said Madeline patiently.  "It was an example."

"Oh."  James settled back in his chair.  _Dear God,_ he thought.  _This whole courting business is more work than I thought!_

*

That Saturday, at breakfast, Lily could barely eat a thing.  She felt as if her stomach was full of raging butterflies.  Today was the day she was going to go to Hogsmeade with Adrian.  Their first official date!

"Lily!  Eat something!" admonished Shayne.  "You don't want to pass out from hunger do you?  Trust me, it's embarrassing."

"But I'm not hungry." Lily said.  "And how would you know anyway?"

"Long story.  Eat.  Now."  Shayne pushed a French toast stick at Lily with her fork.

Lily prodded the French toast with her finger.  "Eat."  Shayne commanded.

"Do it, Lily.  Think of how embarrassing it would be if your stomach started growling really loudly just as he leans in to kiss you!"  Jessie exclaimed.

Lily's eyebrows shot up. Hastily, she picked up her French toast and took a bite.  "There," she said, putting it back on her plate.  "I ate."

"Li-i-ily."  Cara pestered.  "The _whole _thing."

Lily groaned.  Sometimes friends were more trouble than they were worth.  "Fine!" she exclaimed, shoving it into her mouth.  "Hagby?" she said through a mouthful.

"Quite." said Jessie, wiping a bit of French toast off her cheek.

"Maddy," Lily said, swallowing. "What's with you?  You haven't said a word...not even to bug me about eating!  Are you sick or something?"

"What?" Madeline jumped. "Oh.  No, no, I'm fine.  Just...spacing."

Cara raised an eyebrow.  "Speaking of spacing, where were you last night"

"What do you mean?" asked Madeline hastily.

"She means, you didn't come up to bed until midnight, several hours after curfew."  Jessie put in.

"Oh, that. I was-was-was in the library." she stammered.

Shayne shot her a look.  "Liar."

"Where were you really?" asked Lily.

"I'm not a liar! I was too in the library." She said, crossing her arms in front of her chest defensively.

Cara sighed.  "Whatever.  Let it drop, for now."

"What?" exclaimed Shayne.  "Maddy's hiding something juicy and I want to know what!"

"Me too." agreed Cara.  "But Adrian's coming this way.  Lily, you have a crumb right here."

"Thanks." Lily quickly swiped her cheek and stood up.  "Hey, Adrian." she said, turning to face him.

"Hey, Lily.  You look great." he said. "I love how you mixed the pink top with the white tank."

Lily raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.  However, she did have James' and Jessie's voices running through her head:_ "He's gay."  Jessie spit out.    "BECAUSE HE'S GAY!!" James had yelled._  Lily shook her head.  _He can't possibly be gay_, she decided.  _He's with me._

*

James watched Adrian and Lily leave with a look of utmost disgust on his face.  "He's gay." he muttered.  "_Gay_.  Why can't she see that?  Women usually have such good radar when it comes to that stuff.  Is she blind? Is her radar broken? Ergh!"

"Relaaax, Prongs."  Sirius said.  "She'll realize it in time."

"Yeah." agreed Peter.  "Women can always tell the difference between a man and a boy, or in this case, a gay guy."

"Wow, Wormtail, that was deep." Sirius commented.  "Where'd you dig that up?"

"I, er, read it somewhere." Peter confessed.

"Well, it's the truth."  said Remus.  "Or, at least, I think it is."

"Wow, Moony's not sure about something." teased James.  "Did hell freeze over?"

Remus laughed sarcastically.  "Very funny, Prongs.  Did you send the order to your mom for the chocolates yet?"

"Yup!" said James proudly.  "We oughta get them by Monday."

"Good." Remus said approvingly.  "Now, er, let's go catch up with Madeline and Lily's other friends.  Since Lily's not around, this is the, ahm, perfect time to do a little research."

"Fantastic idea, Moony." said Sirius.  "I couldn't agree more.  Especially since that one with the black hair is hot!"

James rolled his eyes. "You know, Padfoot," he said conversationally. "it won't look to good to Lily if you go about breaking the hearts of her friends."

"Yeah, Padfoot." concurred Remus.  "Wait for several months _after_ James gets Lily."

"Several _months_?!" exclaimed Sirius.  "But that's-that's such a long time!"

"Yes, but Lily and James are most likely going to be having a very unstable relationship for a while after she finally agrees to go out with him, so..."

Sirius sighed resignedly.  "Fine."

*_exactly_ four pages long.  ::feels special::  anyway, yes there are cliffhangers!!! You know I'll never let you down when it comes to them. ::grins::  What's going to happen between Lily and Adrian at Hogsmeade?  Will James intervene?  Will Lily accept the chocolates or will she shove them up James' tush? ::considers:: wow that would be interesting to write...::grins wickedly::  and ow! My mother just smacked my sunburn...paiiin.  anyway, review, review, review!!! Anyone who wants to be notified when I update this and Some Hearts, leave your email in your review or email me at kathleenmavourneen01@yahoo.com.  Same thing for anyone who can help me get a livejournal account...email me, pleeeease!! ::begs pitifully::*


	7. Satan Occupation: Angel

**Chapter 7**

**Satan; Occupation: Angel**

"So, Adrian..." Lily said, stirring absently at her butterbeer.  "Where are you from?"

She and Adrian had been at Hogsmeade for all of thirty minutes, including the impossibly long length of time spent waiting in line for their butterbeers, and already the conversation had crashed and burned.

"I'm from Kent, actually." Adrian said.

Lily nodded.  "Ah.  Kent.  Is it nice there?"

"Yes, it is. Very green."

"Sounds pretty."

"It is.  You'll have to visit some time."

"Oh, I'd like that."  

"Good."

"Yeah."

Once again, the conversation died.  Lily sighed.  She had been expecting this to be fun and romantic.  They'd spend some time together in the Three Broomsticks, drinking butterbeers and chatting about everything, then later they'd walk hand-in-hand down the street and go into the woods where he'd have a picnic set up and they'd spend the rest of the afternoon there, kissing and talking.  She let out a breath, blowing her bangs up.  

Adrian pushed his drink around the table, leaving little wet streaks.  "Lily." he said, somewhat hesitantly. "There's something I have to tell you."

Lily's head shot up.  _Please God, don't let him be gay.  James'll _never_ let me hear the end of it_. "What is it?" she asked.

"Well, this isn't easy for me to say."

_Come on, spit it out,_ she thought anxiously.

"Thing is, I'm not entirely sure about it, but I figure, if I'm not feeling anything for a pretty girl like you, then it's wrong to lead you on, especially if there's someone else who wants you more."

"Um, Adrian?  What are you talking about?  And what do you mean, someone wants me more?"

"Well, Lily, I think I'm gay."

_Shit_.

"And you have to know that James wants you, bad."

"How do you know you're gay?  I mean you could be straight, but just not have a crush on me."  Lily protested.

"That's just it.  There isn't a single girl at this school who I'm even remotely interested in."

"So?"

"Well, I've had feelings for guys."

Lily frowned slightly.  "Ah."

"Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Look, Lily, I'm really sorry about this.  I hope I haven't hurt you at all?"

Lily thought for a second.  Did she feel hurt?  "No." she said slowly. "No, you haven't hurt me.  That's odd, I would have thought..."

Adrian broke into a grin. "Good.  I'd really like to be friends with you, even though it didn't exactly work out between us."

Lily smiled broadly. "Yeah.  Yeah, that'd be fun.  I've always wanted a gay guy for a friend."

"Fantastic." Adrian gave Lily a sideways hug.

*

"What's happening?  Can you tell?"  James asked, trying to peer around the booth over to Adrian and Lily.  

"Adrian just hugged Lily and she's smiling."  Cara said, twisting around.

Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus were all crowded into a booth with Madeline and the rest of Lily's friends to spy on Lily and Adrian on James' behalf.  To make room, Sirius had chivalrously offered Shayne his lap and she had charitably accepted.  

"Remember what we told you, Padfoot." Remus said in a low voice.

Sirius nodded.  "Course I remember." he said.  "But we needed more room!"

Remus rolled his eyes and turned to Madeline.  "What do you think?" he asked.  "Are Adrian and Lily hitting it off?"

"I can't really tell." she said.  "Sirius' big head is blocking my vision."

"My head is not big!" exclaimed Sirius indignantly.

"Then move it!" Madeline said. "We can't see!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, but obliged, resting his chin on Shayne's shoulder.  Shayne looked down at him and smiled, shaking her head slightly.

"They're leaving!"  exclaimed the wounded voice of James as Adrian and Lily came into view.

"They're not holding hands.  That's always a good sign." Peter said.

James grinned.  "Yes! Her radar is working!!"

Jessie looked at him.  "Radar? What radar?"

"Yeah, since when does Lily have radar?  What is she, a robot?" asked Shayne.

"Nah, it's just some theory Pro-James came up with at breakfast."  Sirius said from his position on Shayne's shoulder.

"Enough chat, let's go!"  James cried, shoving Cara out of the booth and scooting out.

*

Now that Adrian's secret was out in the open, Lily found herself having a lot more fun with him and feeling much more relaxed.  She had told him about her problems with James and discovered that he gave very good advice.

"Do you like him?" he asked.

"I don't know." she replied. "Sometimes he does nice things, like sending me flowers, but other times he just completely and totally pisses me off and I want nothing to do with him."

"So is that a yes?"

"What?! No!" Lily exclaimed vehemently.

Adrian shot her a look.  "Liar."

"If I'm a liar, then...then Satan's an angel."

"Technically he is.  He's a fallen angel.  So...liar!"

"Dork, you know what I mean."

"Ah, I can feel the love!"

Lily swatted him on the arm.  "I don't and never will like him."

Adrian snorted.  "You're denying your true feelings."

"Am not."

"Then why are you all red?"

Lily felt her face. Hot as a firepoker.  _Goddamn genes,_ she thought.  "Because it's hot out."

"Lily.  It's drizzling."

"So?"

"It's not hot."

"Whatever.  So, what do you think of that guy?"

"Oh, he's cute.  Not your type though."

*

James saw Adrian and Lily talking and laughing up ahead and his blood boiled.  How dare she go out with any guy other than him?  He quickened his pace in order to catch up, but was stopped by Remus.  "What?" he snapped, turning around.

"Prongs.  Think clearly now.  If you go up there and interrupt their conversation, what's Lily going to do?"

"Flip out on me?"

"Wow, we've got a scholar here, Moony!"  exclaimed Sirius.

"Thank you for that completely random comment, Padfoot.  And yes, Prongs, incidentally, you're right.  And then can you tell me what will happen?"

"I'll yell back?"

"We're batting a thousand here!" cried Sirius again.

"Exactly." Remus said, choosing to ignore Sirius' comment. "And then all our hard work will be ruined and she'll be back to hating you with a passion..."

"Rather than just hating you, like she does now."

"Words of encouragement provided by Padfoot. Thank you." quipped Peter.

"So basically, James or Prongs or whatever I'm supposed to call you—"

"James is good, Prongs is just what these three call me."

"Ah, okay, anyway, what Remus is saying is, in a nutshell, save a confrontation for..." Madeline paused to think.

"For never!" chirped Jessie.

"Yeah, that." agreed Cara.

"Fine." James grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

*

After having left Adrian at the foot of the stairs, Lily climbed through the portrait hole, thoroughly exhausted, but happy. 

"Lily!"  Shayne's squeal greeted her upon her entrance.

"How was it!?" Jessie asked, from her seat in the biggest armchair.

Lily walked over and sat on the couch next to Cara.  "I had a LOT of fun." she said. "Adrian's a really great guy."

"So are you going to go out again?" asked Cara anxiously.

"Maybe. I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Jessie asked, thunderstruck.

"I mean, I don't know.  Where's Madeline by the way?"

"Madeline?  Oh, I don't know." 

"I think she went off with Remus after Hogsmeade."

"With Remus?  Oh, my best friend flirting with my enemy's best friend!  The pain!" exclaimed Lily dramatically.

"You're nuts, Lily." commented Shayne.

"Thank you, darling, I rather think so myself. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get my beauty sleep.  I'm exhausted."  With that, Lily waltzed up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

There was a stunned sort of silence after Lily's disappearance.

"Well." Jessie said.

"Do you get the idea Lily's not telling us something?" asked Cara.

"I get the feeling Lily's finally gone off her rocker." Shayne replied. 

*

As James, Sirius, Shayne, Jessie, and Cara had gone back up to Hogwarts Castle, Remus had asked Madeline to stay back with him.  "Come with me." he whispered, taking her hand and leading her off across the grounds.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"One of my favorite places to go to when it's dark." _and when it's not a full moon,_ he added to himself.

He led her through a patch of trees that formed something like a circle before joining up with the Forbidden Forest.  "Here." he said.

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Madeline. "I didn't know this was here!"

Hidden by the cluster of trees was a clearing with a little pond in the center of it.  Looking up, Madeline saw all the stars, more than she'd ever seen in her life at one time.  "It's beautiful."

Remus smiled a bit.  "Yeah.  It is."

"Thank you for showing this to me."

"You're welcome.  Madeline, there's something I wanted to tell you."

Madeline looked at him.  "Really? What?"

"Well, you see," Remus blushed and scratched at the back of his head.  He didn't quite meet Madeline's eyes.

"Yes?"

He raised his head and looked at her.  "I like you, Madeline, I like you a lot."  

Madeline's eyes widened.  "You-you do?" Her voice came out rather hoarse.

"Yes and, um, I'd be absolutely thrilled if you liked me too?" he asked hesitantly.

Madeline didn't know what to think or to say.  Did she like him?  Silly question.  "Yeah...yeah I do like you, too."  she said, looking up at him and smiling.

His anxious face broke into a grin.  "That's great!" he exclaimed.  "Now come with me."  He picked up her hand again and tugged her with him.

He led her behind a large rock next to the pond to reveal a red and white-checkered blanket lying on the ground.  "For stargazing." he explained.

Madeline smiled.  "Cool." she said, laying down next to him with her head resting on his arm.

*amazing.  I can still write even when I have writer's block.  Score!  Anyway I don't know if there are any cliffhangers aside from the obvious (James and Lily: will they EVER get together?).  So read and review and let me know if you can help me get a livejournal account and if you want me to notify you when I update, leave your email!*


	8. Confusing Lily

**Chapter 8**

           **Confusing Lily**

"So what'd she say about the date?"  James asked Lily's friends anxiously in the common room the next morning.

Jessie bit her lip.  "Well, she said that she had a LOT of fun and that Adrian's a really great guy."

"Ergh!" James ruffled his hair. "Did she say she was going out with him again?"

"Well we asked, but she said she didn't know." Cara said.

"We think she's hiding something or she's gone off her rocker." spoke up Shayne.

"Gone off her rocker? Why?" asked Sirius.

"When she came in last night, she was practically bouncing off the walls."

"Yeah, she got all dramatic when I said Madeline went off with Remus." said Cara.

"Whoa!!" exclaimed Sirius.  "Moony's got a girlfriend and he didn't tell us?!"

"It would seem that way." Peter said.

"Let's go wake him up!!"

"Can we do that later?" James asked. "I'd _like_ to find out about Lily's—"

"Lily's what, precisely?" interrupted Lily, causing James to jump about a foot in the air.  "James wouldn't happen to be _nosing_ in my affairs again, would he?"

"Er, no, no, no.  Not at all, Lily." James attempted a charming smile.

"Then what, pray tell, _were_ you doing?"

"I was, er, that is to say, I..."  James stammered.

*

Sirius leaned over to Shayne. "Prongs is _so_ dead."

"Who?  Oh, James?" She laughed quietly so as not to attract Lily's attention.  "Yeah, I don't see how he's going to get out of this one."

Jessie peered over at James who was still trying to come up with an excuse. "Shouldn't we try to help him?"

Peter gave Jessie a look.  "And have Lily come after us when we can't come up with a good excuse?"

Jessie nodded.  "Good point."

"But its good entertainment!" spoke up Sirius.

*

Over by the couch, James had given up on finding a decent excuse.  "It's none of your business."

"I should say it is!" exclaimed Lily.  "You were talking about _me_!"

"So?"

"So you should tell me!"

"Fine! You want to know?  I'll tell you."

Lily was slightly taken aback by his sudden change of mind but carried on as usual.  "Fine.  Then tell me."

"Because I wanted to know how your date with Adrian went."  James said in a low voice, bringing his face close to Lily's.

Lily fought her natural instinct to step back as it would have shown weakness and forced herself to look him in the eyes.  "Why would _you_ care how the date went?" she asked.

"I..."  _Shit_, James thought.  _Why did I tell her that?_

"Well?"  Lily persisted.  _Why the hell did he want to know how the date went? Unless he wants to be proven right about Adrian? That's it!_  "Is this about Adrian?"

James' jaw dropped.  _Thanks, Lily,_ he thought. _That's an easier way out_.  "Yeah. Yeah, it's about Adrian."

Lily arched an eyebrow.  "What does Adrian have to do with this?"  she asked dangerously.

_So much for an easier way out._ "He's gay."

Lily clutched at her face with her hand.  "So why would that bother you?"

"Because normally, girls don't go out with gay guys." 

"And what makes you think he's gay?"

"He just is.  Do I have to have a reason?"

"Yes!  If you're going to be making conclusions about someone, it's best you have proof!"

"Proof?"

"Yes!"  _Is he stupid?_ "Proof!  Definition: The evidence or argument that compels the mind to accept an assertion as true!"  exclaimed Lily.

"What did you swallow a dictionary or something?"  shot out James.

"No, it was a vocabulary word when I was in elementary school.  For some strange reason, I remember it."  Lily shook her head.  "Anyway, you never answered my question."

"What question?"

Lily tugged at a handful of hair in agitation.  "Let's start over."

James raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Why?"

"Because you confuse me."

"Good."

Lily shot him a dirty look. "Why do you care about how my date went?"  she asked slowly.

"Because Adrian's gay."

"How do you know?"

"Sirius told me."

Sirius looked up at the sound of his name.  Why was James bringing him into this?  James shot him a pleading look.  "_Help me." _he mouthed.

"He, er, hit on me."  Sirius said, turning red.

"What?"  Lily was sure her jaw was scraping the floor.

Sirius turned redder.  "Yeah."

James was shocked as well.  "Are you serious?"

Sirius grinned, recovering a little.  "Last I checked."

"No, you know what I mean. Are you telling the truth?"

Sirius flushed again.  "Yeah."

"No way."

"Yes way."

James ran a hand through his hair.  "Dude.  That sucks."

Sirius nodded a little.  "Tell me about it."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" asked Peter.

"Because I would have rather kept it quiet.  Most straight guys aren't about to scream to the world that they were hit on by a gay guy."

"Ah."  

Lily cleared her throat.  "As life-scarring as that is, I'm sure Sirius will get over it eventually.  For now, can we get back to the question at hand?"

James looked at her, confused. "What question?"

"Ergh!" cried Lily.  "Do you have any short-term memory?"

James thought for a second.  "Nope!"

Lily sighed.  "Fine.  Forget about it."  She turned and stalked out the portrait hole.

*

James let out a sigh of relief.  "Man, I'm good."

Jessie rolled her eyes and stood up.  "C'mon girls, let's go check on Lily."

As the girls left, Peter turned to Sirius.  "Were you actually serio-honest about Adrian hitting on you or did you just make it up to help James out?"

"Sadly, it's the truth."

"Ah." 

Just then, the portrait hole opened and Madeline and Remus came through.  "Moony, old pal!!  There you are!"  exclaimed Sirius, leaping up to give him a bear hug.  "We were so worried! Don't you _ever_ do that  to us again!"

"Where were you guys?" asked James curiously.

"You missed the action." said Peter.  "Prongs just single-handedly saved himself from the wrath of Lily."

"Nice job, Prongs." choked out Remus.  "Now, if Padfoot would kindly let go of me, I can resume breathing."

Sirius let go of Remus who instantly began massaging his neck with his free hand.  (His other hand was holding Madeline's.)

"How did you do that, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Pretended I had no idea what she was talking about." James said proudly.  "Eventually she got frustrated and left."

"James!" exclaimed Madeline.  "That's not very nice.  What was she trying to find out?"

"Why I was trying to find out about her date last night."

"She had every right to do that, James." chided Madeline.  "You would have saved yourself a lot of trouble in the future if you had just answered her straight up."

"But what was I supposed to say?" asked James.

"The truth would have been nice."  Madeline said.

"I can't just tell her I like her!!" he exclaimed in agitation.

"Why not?"

"Because...because...because she'd laugh.  Or hit me or something."

"She wouldn't laugh."  Madeline said, with conviction.

James made a face.  "Does she like me?"

"I-I don't know."  Madeline said.  "She's never said anything about it."

"Then I see no reason as to why I should tell her."

Madeline shrugged.  "Okay.  Don't tell her yet.  I'll see what I can do."

*alright, sorry it's so short, but I have massive writer's block and that's the best I could squeeze out. ::sighs::  I'll try to do better next time.  Anyway, you know the drill: read, review, review, review, review, if you want to be updated when I change things, leave your email, and if you can help me get a livejournal, let me know! Merci!*


	9. A Revelation

*mon dieu!!  **FIFTEEN** people have me on their favorites author lists!  I love you all!!!  ::grins happily:: wow what a confidence booster.  And as usual...can anyone help me get a livejournal account, sil-vous-plait?  If you can I will _so_ love you forever...merci!*

**Chapter 9**

**A Revelation**

Later that night, Lily was on her way to the library, still agitated by James, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.  She turned and saw Madeline standing behind her.  

"Lily, can we talk?"  she asked.

Lily made a face.  She had a ton of homework.

"Please? It's kind of important."

Lily sighed. "Alright."

"Good."  Madeline led Lily into a nearby empty classroom.  "Lily, how do you really and truly feel about James?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Lily asked dumbfoundedly.  "You know full well how I feel about him."

"No I don't."

"You do."

"I don't." insisted Madeline.  "Tell me."

Lily raked a hand through her hair, snagging it on a snarl.  She tugged at it as she answered.  "I'd hardly call him a friend, if that's what you're asking."

"No, I mean do you like him romantically?"

Lily yanked the strand of hair out of her head and winced. "What?!  What would possibly give you an idea like _that_?!"

Madeline arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure?  I've never been more positive about anything in my entire _life_!" exclaimed Lily, waving the detached strand of hair around wildly.

Madeline frowned.  "Why not?"

"Because he's annoying! It's like he's trying to make it his life's purpose to get on my nerves!  He—ergh!!" Lily shrilled.

"He's not that bad, once you get to know him." Madeline said.  "Give him a chance."

"I gave him a chance, fourth year.  Remember how well that turned out?"

*

_|Flashback|_

_"Lily, will you please be my date to the Christmas Ball?"  James Potter asked, nervously running a hand through his black hair._

_Lily frowned.  She may have a huge crush on James, but she knew he was a womanizer.  "I don't know."_

_"Please?  We'll have fun!"_

_"How do I know you won't ditch me the second we walk into the Great Hall?"_

_"I won't, Lily.  Take a chance on me."  James' eyes were filled with hope._

_Lily smiled.  "Okay."_

_*_

_~The Ball~_

_*_

_Lily stood anxiously at the entrance to the Great Hall.  The Hall itself was beautifully decorated, with huge Christmas trees in the corners, covered in candles and candy canes.  There were gold bubbles floating in the air and around the dance floor, round tables were set up, covered in a shimmery gold tablecloth.  _Where was James?_ she wondered.  He had promised to meet her at the entrance at eight o'clock.  It was now eight fifteen and there was no sign of him.  _

_She sighed to herself. _I'll wait five more minutes and then I'm done.__

_Unfortunately, she didn't need to wait at all, because at that moment, she saw James waltzing across the dance floor with a beautiful brunette.  Lily's whole body went tense.  _He promised he wouldn't ditch me!! _she thought angrily, but a small voice nagged at the back of her head: _He promised he wouldn't ditch you the second you _two_ walked into the Great Hall.  He didn't go in with you, therefore he didn't break his promise.__

_Lily ignored the voice and, fighting back tears, she turned on her heel, her powder blue robes swishing behind her, and raced up the stairs to the common room.  Once in the common room, she collapsed on the couch and swore she would never again trust James Potter._

*

|_End Flashback_|

*

"He was a young, stupid boy then." Madeline said.  "He's changed now.  He's more mature."

Lily snorted.  "Yeah, mature enough to talk about me behind my back."

Madeline sighed hopelessly.  "Lily, what are the chances you'd fall for him?"

"One in infinity." Lily said stubbornly.  "Also known as _never_."

*

"So basically, the odds for James are not good." Madeline finished telling Remus what had happened earlier.

Remus sighed. "I didn't know he did that to her back then."

"Why do you think he did?" Madeline asked.

"Fourth year.." Remus pondered.  "That was the year Cecilia McKinnon did that exchange program here."

"You still remember her name?"

"Yeah, she was who James went to the ball with."

"When he was _supposed_ to go with Lily."

"Yeah.  I'll have to ask him about that."

"Don't tell him who told you though." Madeline said.  "Lily would absolutely kill me if she found out I told you."

Remus grinned.  "And we wouldn't want that now would we?"

"No, we wouldn't." Madeline replied.  "Where would you be without me?"

"Hopelessly bored." Remus said, kissing her.

*

"Prongs, who did you go to the Christmas Ball with, fourth year?"  Remus asked after dinner that night.

James frowned.  "Can't say I remember.  I think she had brown hair?"

"It was that exchange student, wasn't it?" asked Sirius, jumping into the conversation.

James nodded at Sirius.  "I think you're right." he said slowly.

"Or could it have been a certain redhead..." Remus asked pointedly.

James made a confused face. "What are you talking about, Moony?"

"Let me rephrase my question.  Who did you _ask_ to the ball?"

"The exchange student?"

"No...Lily!"

James' eyes bugged out. "What?!  You're kidding me, right?"

"Actually, I don't think he is, Prongs." spoke up Sirius.  "I vaguely remember you asking Lily to go with you."

"Yeah, and she said no at first because she didn't want you to ditch her or something!" chimed in Peter.

"But you managed to persuade her." Sirius said triumphantly.

"And then you left her standing at the entrance to the Great Hall." finished Remus.

The whole time, James' eyes had been getting wider and wider.  "Oh my god." he said.  "I really did do that, didn't I?"

Remus nodded solemnly.

"That was your skirt-chasing stage." Sirius said. "I remember now.  I wondered why that redheaded girl was standing in the doorway for so long and then all of a sudden, she turned and ran.  It's a pity, I was going to ask her to dance."

"And Padfoot here still hasn't grown out of _his_ skirt-chasing stage yet." Remus said dryly.

James, meanwhile, had put his face in his hands.  "I can't believe I did that to her!  No wonder she hates me now!"

"Well the chocolates are coming tomorrow aren't they?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah."

"Then just write a little note to her, since you're going to be signing your name anyway."

James looked up, slightly confused. "What would I say?"

"'I'm sorry for everything.  As ever, James.' Short and sweet." Remus suggested.

*

Late that night, once everyone was asleep, Lily crept out of the dormitory and slipped up to the Astronomy Tower, her favorite place to go when she needed to think and when the sky was clear.  Once she was up there, she sat between two of the battlements and leaned against the stone, still warm from the sun beating on it all day.  When she had talked to Madeline about James, it had dredged up a lot of unpleasant memories.  She hadn't been to a ball since that one, mainly because there hadn't been any, but she was sure that if there had been, she wouldn't have gone.

She didn't know why it bothered her so much, it was in the past and there wasn't anything she could do about it now, but it bothered her.  Not including Adrian, she hadn't been asked out since.  It made her wonder whether James had told most of the guys at Hogwarts things about her.

A noise behind her made her jump, almost losing her balance.  Regaining her balance, she half-turned to see who was there.  She didn't see anyone so she turned back around and looked up at the stars.

"They're beautiful tonight aren't they?"

Lily whirled around so quickly she almost fell again.  She once again regained her balance and climbed off the wall.  "What are you doing up here?" she asked James.

"I like to come here sometimes.  To be alone."

Lily looked at him strangely.  "Me too." she said.  

"Lily, can we talk?"

_That's the second time that's been said to me today_, Lily thought.  _Weird._  Out loud she said, "We are talking."

James smiled a little.  "You're right, we are."  He walked a little closer, shrinking the gap between them so that their toes were barely touching.  

"What did you want to talk about?" Lily asked, feeling slightly disconcerted by how close he was.  

"I'm sorry if I've hurt you in the past." he said, not removing his eyes from hers. "But I'm different now.  I've grown up since then."

Lily's eyes widened slightly, but other than that she didn't move or say anything.  James was leaning in to her and before she knew it, she was caught up in his arms and she was kissing him back!  Her arms were, for some odd reason, wrapped around his neck and she was feeling electricity running through her body as if she had been plugged into a socket.

James was thrilled.  Maybe there was hope for him after all.  She hadn't shoved him off the tower yet, something he took to be a good sign.

Lily was thoroughly enjoying herself until she realized who she was kissing.  Summoning all her resolve, she removed her arms from around his neck and shoved with all her might.  "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again!!" she exclaimed.

"And why not?" asked James, recovering himself.

"Because I hate you!! There isn't the slightest chance that I will ever be interested in you so why won't you leave me alone?!"

James put a  hand on his him and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more.  "Well." he said, the fire and hurt in his eyes shocking Lily.  "I'm glad we've got that cleared up.  Fine, Lily, you want me to leave you alone?  Fine. I can do that.  You'll never hear from me again, Lily Evans."

With those last words, James turned and stormed down the stairs.  Lily stood frozen in the same spot for about four seconds after he disappeared.  _Guys like him are _so_ infuriating,_ she thought to herself. _Especially when you inevitably fall in love with them._  She shook her head and froze again, as her last thought resounded through her mind.  "Oh mon dieu."  She said in a low voice.  "I'm in love with James Potter."

*about a couple lines into the chapter I realized...wow I don't have writer's block any more!!  ::cheers:: granted that's no promise that I won't have writer's block for the _next_ chapter... anyway, since I'm sure you're all wondering what's with the random French phrases...i have a huge packet I have to finish for French 3 by tomorrow and I have 22 pages left.  Whoopee.  Anyways review because you love me!!  I'll try to get chapter 10 up soon! ::cough cough:: more reviews means sooner! ::cough cough::*


	10. Get Out of Bed

Responses

~Thank you to EVERYONE who wished me luck with my French homework!  No, I still haven't finished, but I have to today.  Merci bien!

**Bombshell** ~ I know it wasn't with this story, but thank you for giving me a lead to getting a code!! (god I sound like a detective...) I don't know if it worked or not yet as she hasn't written back yet, but THANK YOU!!!  

**Chapter 10**

**Get Out of Bed**

Lily remained in tower until the first rays of sunlight began peeking over the mountains in the distance.  She had been up all night, cursing her stupidity; one, for actually falling for James AGAIN and two, for being such a bitch to him.  She didn't know what to do about it, as she had never been in such a situation before and she didn't feel she had anyone she could talk to as her pride wouldn't let her confess to her friends, to whom she had adamantly denied having any emotions whatsoever towards James, that she was actually in love with him.

It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, which slightly ticked Lily off as she felt it should be rainy, gray, and all around miserable, like how she was feeling at the moment.  Slowly, she dragged herself up off the ground, resisting the urge to fling herself off the tower once she realized it was Monday.  She hauled her tired, worn-out body down the impossibly long staircase and back to the girls' dormitory, walking quietly as so not to wake anyone.  She didn't want any prying questions as to where she'd been.

Flinging herself into bed, she waited for sleep to come.  Unfortunately, although she was thoroughly exhausted, sleep wouldn't come.  She stared at the ceiling, reliving the horrible events of the previous night.  _He said he was sorry, and what did I do?  I flipped out on him.  Why did I do that?  It was just a kiss!  _

"What was just a kiss, Lily?"  Madeline's tired voice floated over from the nearby bed.

Lily's eyes widened.  She hadn't realized she was talking out loud!   "Ah...nothing, Maddy.  Nothing.  Go back to sleep!"

It was too late though.  Madeline was the kind of person who, once woken up, couldn't fall back to sleep.  Lily tensed up as she heard the bedsprings on Madeline's bed creak as she climbed out.  Soon, her face appeared over Lily's, tired, but alert.  "You. Downstairs. Now."  commanded Madeline.

Lily decided the best thing for her to do would be to pretend she had been talking in her sleep.  "I was talking in my sleep, Maddy.  It was nothing."

"Liar. If you had been talking in your sleep, which I highly doubt you were, then you wouldn't have responded in such an obviously guilty tone when I asked what you were talking about."  she said in a no-nonsense voice.  "Now get out of bed before I have to drag you out."

Lily sighed.  Clearly this was yet another argument she wasn't going to win.  "Fine." she grumbled, pulling herself out of bed and following Madeline downstairs.

*

Once she was situated on the couch, Lily felt everything spilling out of her.  Once she finished explaining, she could feel a lump in her throat.  She looked up at Madeline.  "What do I do now?" she asked hopelessly. "I've made such a mess!"

Madeline leaned back against the couch.  "You're not going to like what I have to say." she said.

"Try me."

"I think you should 'fess up to him.   Not immediately of course, give him some time to cool off, but I think, sometime in the near future, tell him."

"You're right, I didn't like that."  Lily said.

Madeline smiled slightly.

Lily buried her face in her hands. "I'm screwed, Maddy." she said, a waver in her voice. "I'm destined to become an old maid because of my foolishness and my pride.  I've hurt a pretty decent guy who I happen to be in love with and now, for once in my life, I don't know what to do.  Everything's a mess."

Madeline rubbed Lily's back comfortingly.  "Don't worry.  If it is meant to be, it will all work out.  If it wasn't, then some day you'll meet the one who it will work out with."

Lily's shoulders began to shake and quiet sobs emitted from her hands.  "No, Maddy, I'm pretty sure he is the one.  The way I feel, well, it was so sudden, but I can't describe it.  Now I've ruined it.  I'm just a stupid, good for nothing girl."

"No, Lily, no, you're not!  You're smart, you're beautiful, and some day, I promise you, you will be Mrs. James Potter."  

This only served to make Lily cry harder.  Noticing that people were starting to come down for breakfast, Madeline quickly ushered Lily upstairs so that as few people as possible would see  her crying.

*

At breakfast, James was in a particularly angry mood, accidentally smashing his bowl of oatmeal when he slammed his spoon into it too hard.  "_Reparo_." he muttered, smacking at it with his wand.

"What's up with you, Prongs?" Sirius asked.  "You're like a PMS-ing girl, except you're not threatening our lives for chocolate."

James shot him a dirty look over his bowl.

"Kidding, kidding." Sirius said hastily, holding up his arms in mock surrender.

At that moment, there was a rustling in the rafters, announcing the arrival of the owls.  A rather large brown and white speckled one landed in front of James with a fat, square package attached to it and a note.

James ignored the owl, leaving Remus to relieve the owl of its cargo.  Opening the note, Remus read aloud:

_Dear James,_

_                I hope school is going well and that you're not getting into too much trouble.  I am sending you the package of Cadbury's chocolates that you requested (though I don't know why, as Honeydukes' is infinitely better.).  I don't know why you're requesting these when you've never shown any preference for them before but I'll assume it has something to do with a girl and leave it at that.   _

_                          Love, your sister,_

_                                    Devyn_

At the word "Cadbury's" James groaned and slid down in his seat.

Not noticing this, Remus said, "Fantastic.  This may very well be the last step in our plan for you to get Lily."

Sirius poked Remus and gestured at James, who was busily pulling at large handfuls of his raven hair.

"Um, Prongs?  The chocolate's here." 

"Bluck."

"Prongs?  What's wrong?"

James slid up in his seat, an odd glint in his eye.  "You want to know what's wrong?" he asked.  "Well, I'll tell you.  Last night, I told Lily that she'd never hear from me again because she told me, and I quote, 'There isn't the slightest chance that I will ever be interested in you so why won't you leave me alone?!'"  he said, imitating an angry female voice.

Remus, Sirius, and Peter gazed at James with dropped jaws.  "You what?" exclaimed Remus.

"_She_ what?" shouted Sirius.

"You both _what_?!" cried Peter.

"Well." Remus said, scratching the side of his head nervously.  "This puts a rather large wrench into our plans."

"Damn straight!" exclaimed James.  "What am I going to do?  I made a promise and I _never_ go back on my word!"

Feeling that this wouldn't be the best time in the world to mention the ball incident fourth year, Sirius said delicately, "Some promises were meant to be broken."

James frowned.  "Not this one." he said.  "She made it _crystal_ clear that she never wanted to see or speak to me again.  I'd be a fool not to take the hint"

"Then be a fool." Sirius said.  "Lord knows I know enough about it.  You're not just going to let her go that easily are you?"

"Think of the months you've spent chasing her." Remus said.  "Are you just going to throw that away?"

James sighed.  "I don't feel like talking about this anymore."  he said.  "I'm going to go....somewhere.  You guys can eat the chocolates.  Or, Remus, you can give them to Madeline.  Whatever."

As James walked out of the Great Hall, the remaining Marauders stared after him.

"It'll all work out in the end." Remus said, feigning confidence. "He still likes her, I'm sure.  Otherwise he wouldn't be quite so upset about all this."

Sirius shrugged.  "It's hard to tell, man."

*

Lily spent the rest of the day in bed and had Madeline tell her teachers that she had retched that morning, wasn't feeling well, and therefore was sleeping it off.  One out of three wasn't too bad; she really didn't feel well.  Guilt had been pouring through her all day, making her irritable.  She still hadn't figured out what to do about the whole James thing.  She hadn't seen him since the previous night and while part of her wanted to keep it that way, the rest of her wanted to see him, which would inevitably lead to her throwing herself on him and begging for his forgiveness.

*

James was in a terrible mood all day.  He almost broke his wand several times in Transfiguration, there were now several splinters coming out of it, by using too much force when he was trying to change his frog into a toad.  The frog was now cowering behind a stack of books, trying to avoid that long nasty thing that kept slamming itself in its general direction.

Sirius, Remus and Peter didn't know what to do.  They'd never seen him in such a state before.  They hadn't seen Lily all day either, something they took to be a good thing as they didn't know what James would do if he saw her.

*

The next day, Madeline managed to convince Lily to get herself out of bed and go to classes.

"You can't spend your whole life in bed just because of a dumb mistake." she scolded.  "Now get out of bed."

Lily glared at her, but obeyed.  Slightly shocked that Lily had given in without an argument, Madeline handed her her uniform without comment.

Once she was dressed, Lily grabbed her bag and trudged out the door behind Madeline.  "I don't know why I have to do this, Maddy." she complained.  

"Because if you miss any more classes, you'll be so far behind that it will be utterly impossible for you to catch up and you'll suffer a nervous breakdown without ever have becoming famous and doing drugs and such."

"Thank you for that lovely allegory." Lily said, rolling her eyes.  "For your information, I have no urge to become famous and do drugs as you so nicely put it.  I want to be an Auror."

Madeline smiled.  Lily was back on form.  "I know.  I was kidding."

*

Lily dragged herself from class to class, avoiding James' eye, made easier by the fact that he was avoiding her as well.  Their friends were relieved, they had been expecting a huge confrontation.  

By the end of the day, they were both thoroughly exhausted, both from the strain of work and the strain of dodging each other.

Collapsed in front of the fire in the common room, Jessie was absently looking through Lily's planner.

"Hey! Lily!" she said suddenly.

Lily looked up from the fire. "Yeah?"

"You have a tutoring appointment for Transfiguration in two minutes!"

Lily's eyes widened.  "Oh my God.  I completely forgot!"

Madeline arched an eyebrow.  _Wait for it...wait for it..._

"Oh. Wait." Lily sank back against the couch. "It's with James. Never mind."

"Liiiily..."  Shayne cajoled.  "This could be your chance to fix things with him!"

"Besides, it's not nice to keep him waiting." Cara chimed in.

Lily frowned, but they could tell she was giving in.  "Fine." she grumbled.  "But I'm blaming you all if anything goes wrong."

Madeline smiled angelically.  "You'll be fine.  Now go."

*

"James, don't you have a tutoring thing right now?"  Sirius asked.

They were in the Room of Requirement because James hadn't wanted to go back to the common room. 

James looked up from his position on the floor and checked his watch.  "Poop. You're right."

"Aren't you going to go?"  Remus asked.

"Its with the girl who never wants to see me again.  Somehow I doubt she'll be there."

Sirius shot him a look.  "And you'll piss her off even more if she goes to work on her Transfiguration skills and no one's there."

"Besides, it's the perfect opportunity to fix things with her."  Peter said, waggling his eyebrows.

James sighed.  "Fine.  Whatever.  I know when I'm not wanted." He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the room.

A few minutes later,  Madeline's head appeared in the doorway.  "Is he gone?" she asked.

"Yeah, come on in." Remus said.

Madeline entered the room, followed by Shayne, Cara, and Jessie.  "So, did it work?" Madeline asked.

Remus grinned proudly and gestured to the space next to him with his wand, turning his chair into a loveseat. "Yes it did!  He should be on his way there now."

Jessie grinned.  "Good."

*wow....long chapter, even though my mental train hit a solid brick wall after Sirius said ::said in deep voice:: "It's hard to tell man."   Anyway, I was going to have a separate "story" format for writer's notes so these things would be shorter, but as I was setting it up I noticed a little rule that said "NO author's notes." or something like that.  This story'll be ending pretty soon too, but never fear, I've got some more ideas.  Let me know which one you like best!  Oh, and I need title ideas!!  Now, on to the ideas:

· Starting with the end of the scene in 00TP (possibly): Snape catches up with Lily (a couple days later?) apologizes for incident with James earlier and for calling her a mudblood, then asks Lily out.  Lily would say no except enter James who says something (haven't decided yet) and Lily quickly says 'yes' to Snape.  There may be possible dark ulterior motives for Snape?  Lily/Snape ship bugs James immensely and he is constantly around trying to get Lily to dump Snape.  Lily may possibly think she's in love with Snape.  James may give up.  Lily will eventually realize who she's in love with.  

· (After Hogwarts?) Lily currently has a boyfriend who abuses her.  James finds her crying/sees a bad bruise (or a broken arm) and tries to find out what's wrong/how did it happen, she lies/yells/tells him to bug off.  He finds out anyway (witnesses it? she confesses? friend tells him? If so, confronts her, she confesses), hunts down boyfriend, beats the shit out of him, tells him to stay away from Lily.  Boyfriend a.) listens to James and leaves Lily alone, b.) ignores James and carries on, again getting the shit beaten out of him, or c.) pretends to repent, later kidnaps Lily, who'd entered into a successful relationship with James.  James rescues her, throws the bastard in jail, and they live happily ever after. 

§  Let me know which option you like best for this one. Personally, I like c, just because of the drama potential. :) I would _so_ hate to be one of my characters lol.


	11. An Apology

*yah, I know it's been a WHILE since I've last updated and I greatly appreciate that none of you have hunted me down in an attempt to kill me for not having updated.  Anyway, I've got about ten thousand tons of homework to do so I can't promise that this'll be a long chapter.  Add that to writer's block and you're lucky I'm writing at all. lol.  I knew I shouldn't've taken all those honors classes.  ::sighs:: Last week was odd so forgive me if I get weird (for more information, see my lj).  Also this may possibly be the last chapter...  Therefore I need to know which story you want me to write next....and possible chapter titles would be nice....Merci!*

**Chapter 11**

**An Apology**

James peered into the Transfiguration classroom.  Lily was sitting at one of the desks, her face buried in her hands.  He was tempted to turn and run in the other direction as quickly as he could, but figuring that if he did that, she'd only be madder, he sucked it up and walked in.

"Hello."  he said briskly, deciding it would be best to act strictly business-like.

Lily's head shot up from the desk and she turned in her chair.  "Oh.  Hi."

There was something different about her, but he couldn't quite place it.  "So, do you have your wand?"

She nodded meekly.  "Yeah."

James raised an eyebrow.  There was _definitely_ something different about her.  Normally she would have shot back with a wise-ass remark.  "Good.  Today we're going to be practicing transfiguring a basket into a pillow."

He walked over to the corner where McGonagall kept her supplies for her classes.  Lily was still frozen in the position she had been when he first walked in.   

*

_Say something_! Lily urged herself, dying to break the uncomfortable silence between them.  James was still searching for the baskets.  She turned in her seat again to face the front and buried her face in her hands.  "I'm sorry."  she said into her hands.

*

"Sorry, what?" James asked, turning to face her.  She was back in the position she had been before he entered the room, her long red hair falling over her face.  She mumbled something again.  "I can't hear you." he said, walking forward.

Again, muffled noises came from her hands.  This time they actually sounded like words, though James couldn't make them out.  He walked up so that he was next to her desk.  "Could you say that again?"

Her head burst up and she cried, "I'm SORRY!"

*

Lily covered her mouth with her hands.  James had stuck a finger in his ear and was moving it around, trying to see if he had any hearing left.  He blinked and looked at her.  "For what?" he asked coolly.

Lily cringed.  He couldn't just make it easy for her, could he?  "For yelling at you like I did." she said, turning red. "You didn't really deserve it.  I guess I just had a lot on my mind and that was more than I could deal with at the moment."

James nodded slowly.  "Okay."

Lily stood up.  "Okay? Is that all you're going to say?"

James raised both his eyebrows.  "What else is there?'

Lily placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head slightly to the side. _Guys_.  _Why is he being so _difficult?!  she wondered.  "Let me explain myself a little clearer." she said.

James folded his arms and leaned back against the desk.  "Please do."

*

James was slightly confused.  He didn't have the slightest clue what Lily was talking about, except that she had said she was sorry.  This provided him a bit of hope but he was quick to snuff it.  She was probably just feeling guilty.  Therefore, he decided to keep playing it cool.

"Look, I've been doing a whole LOT of thinking over the past couple days." Lily was saying, blushing slightly.  "And this isn't exactly easy for me to say, mainly because I'm not used to it."

"Used to what?" James asked curiously, hardly daring to hope.

Lily put a hand on her hip and ran her other hand through her hair.   She looked at the floor and bit her lip nervously.  "I...I...I think I'm in love with you." she said quietly.

James frowned.  Again, he couldn't hear her.  "What?"

"I... God, this is harder than I thought."  Lily said, grimacing.

James laughed lightly.  "Is it something you can just show me?"

Lily bit her lip again.  _Maybe_...

*

"What do you think's happening?" Madeline asked anxiously.

"I don't know." replied Remus worriedly.

"Do you think they're both still alive?" Jessie asked.

Shayne rolled her eyes.  "Yes.  The question is, what exactly is going on?"

Sirius shrugged.  "Beats me.  Let's go find out."

"We can't do that!" Peter spoke up.  "This is their own private business and they'll tell us when they're ready."

"Actually, Wormtail, I think Padfoot has a point for once."  Remus said, thinking.

"'Course I do." Sirius said, standing up.  "Let's go!"

Sirius scurried out of the Room of Requirement and was quickly followed by Remus & Madeline, Shayne, Jessie, and after some deliberation, Peter.

Once they reached the Transfiguration wing, Sirius slowed to a tiptoe and crept down the hall to the classroom Lily and James were in.

"I don't hear anything." whispered Shayne. "That's gotta be a good thing..."

Sirius nodded in agreement.  "Let's hope."

Remus stopped short and backed up.  "Padfoot!" he called quietly.  "You passed the room!"

Sirius turned.  "Oh. Oops."

Madeline peered in the classroom.  "Oh. My. God."

*okay so yes, this is short, and yes, there's a cliffhanger...please don't kill me!! lol.  My excuse?  Homework.  Lots and lots of homework.  Stupid honors classes.  ::growls::  I promise I'll try to make the next chapter better.  **All suggestions are welcome!!!**  Also, let me know what you think are good **chapter titles** for the newest stories that I have to start and **let me know** **which one you want!!!** I'll put the options back at the bottom here so you don't have to flip back again.

· Starting with the end of the scene in 00TP (possibly): Snape catches up with Lily (a couple days later?) apologizes for incident with James earlier and for calling her a mudblood, then asks Lily out.  Lily would say no except enter James who says something (haven't decided yet) and Lily quickly says 'yes' to Snape.  There may be possible dark ulterior motives for Snape?  Lily/Snape ship bugs James immensely and he is constantly around trying to get Lily to dump Snape.  Lily may possibly think she's in love with Snape.  James may give up.  Lily will eventually realize who she's in love with.  

· (After Hogwarts?) Lily currently has a boyfriend who abuses her.  James finds her crying/sees a bad bruise (or a broken arm) and tries to find out what's wrong/how did it happen, she lies/yells/tells him to bug off.  He finds out anyway (witnesses it? she confesses? friend tells him? If so, confronts her, she confesses), hunts down boyfriend, beats the shit out of him, tells him to stay away from Lily.  Boyfriend a.) listens to James and leaves Lily alone, b.) ignores James and carries on, again getting the shit beaten out of him, or c.) pretends to repent, later kidnaps Lily, who'd entered into a successful relationship with James.  James rescues her, throws the bastard in jail, and they live happily ever after. 

§  Let me know which option you like best for this one. Personally, I like c, just because of the drama potential. :) I would _so_ hate to be one of my characters lol.


	12. Stalking the Happy Couple

*Ok, so it's highly likely that this will be the last chapter, and yes, I know I said that for the last chapter, but yeah...  And I feel so proud!! This story has been put on a special site for the good Lily and James stories!! And TWENTY-ONE people have me on their favorite authors lists!! ::swoons:: I love you guys SO much, lol.  Oh, and just because I'm curious (I know, I know, curiosity killed the Kat  ::cringes at REALLY bad pun::), which of my stories (so far) is your favorite?  Some Hearts, How to Lose a Guy, She Had it Coming, or The Wedding of Lily Evans?   Please vote! lol*

Responses

Ron Weasley's gal ~ while the amount of drama potential in your suggestion makes it HIGHLY tempting, I like Adrian too much to make him an asshole. Besides, lol, he's gay, so I can't really see him being jealous of Lily and James.  Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

cara-meLisSa ~ I cut it off because I like throwing in cliffhangers (::grins sheepishly::) and because I don't like ending my stories, lol.

|_Votes So Far_|

Lily/Snape to Lily/James story:    five votes

Lily/abusive bf to Lily/James; (no choice specification): six votes

Lily/abusive bf to Lily/James; choice A:  one vote!

Lily/abusive bf to Lily/James; choice B:   two votes

Lily/abusive bf to Lily/James; choice C:  seven votes

**As you can see, so far, L/ABF to L/J choice C is winning.  However, I haven't started the story yet (bad kathi! ::smacks wrist::) so the polls are still open! (lol I've always wanted to say that)

Chapter 12

Stalking the Happy Couple

"What is it?" Remus asked, hurrying next to Madeline to peer into the classroom.

"Lily just grabbed James by the tie and now she's snogging him senseless!"  Madeline exclaimed in an excited whisper.

"WHAT?!" yelled Sirius.

"SHH!!" everyone hissed, looking anxiously at Lily and James.  Fortunately, they seemed to be _much_ too busy to notice...

*

James was in shock.  Of all the things he was expecting her to show him, _this_ certainly wasn't it.  Not that he was complaining, mind you.  He was thrilled beyond all possible reason.  He was trying to work out what exactly brought this on, but the other 95% of  his brain was telling him to shut up and kiss!

Being the full-blooded guy that he was, he obliged.

*

After about three minutes of continuous snogging, Lily pulled away from James, considerably breathless.  She sank down onto the nearest object.  Unfortunately for her, there wasn't anything behind her and she collapsed onto the floor.*  

James squatted down in front of her.  "Are you okay?"

Lily nodded, blushing furiously.  "I can't _believe_ I just did that."

"Fell on your butt?  Oh, that's understandable, I _am_ a great kisser, aren't I?"  James teased.

Lily smiled and swatted at  him, causing him to lose his balance.  "No, you dolt," she said. "I can't believe I just kissed you."

James nodded knowledgably. "Like I said, I am the king of kissers."

"No, you're the king of egos." Lily said dryly.

He laughed.  "It's nice to know some things don't change."

Lily raised her eyebrows.  "What are you talking about?  Aside from the size of your ego, everything's changed."

"I meant you're still a little shrew"  he kidded.

Lily mock-gasped.  "Why you--!"

James grinned.  "Yes?"

"I like you better when you're not talking." Lily grumbled.

"Good luck getting me to do that." James threw back.

Lily peered at him out of the corner of her eye.  "Oh, I can think of several ways to get you to shut up.  You don't REALLY need your voice box and it'll only hurt a little..." 

James snorted.  "Oh, please.  I can always get a new one."

"But...considering I don't feel like having blood all over my hands right now, and I'm sick of hearing your voice..."

James raised both his eyebrows. "What...?"

Lily leaned forward and kissed James on the lips again.

James was surprised for a second, then shrugged, and busied himself with kissing her back.

*

Madeline did a victory dance in the middle of the hall.  "SCORE!!" she cried.

She ran over and grabbed Remus in a hug.  He recovered quickly and swung her around.  "We did it!!!" he cried.

Sirius grabbed Shayne's hands and started dancing around the hall with her while Jessie and Cara hugged each other excitedly.

"What the hell is going on out here?"

It was as if someone had paused all the action in the hall as everyone froze and slowly turned to face the doorway of the Transfiguration classroom.  Sirius was the first to recover.  "Um." he started, glancing around.  "Nothing?" 

James raised an eyebrow.  "Bull."

Lily, standing beside him, said, "Was this all planned?"

Remus and Madeline exchanged guilty looks.  "Ah...yes?"  Madeline said, taking a step back.

Lily pinched the bridge of her nose for a second before responding.  "You do remember that conversation we had, last year, about how much I hate to be set up?" she asked.

Madeline bit her lip, clearly expecting a tirade.  "Yes?"

"You're lucky I like this guy, otherwise you'd all be dead." she said, smiling.

Madeline, Remus and the rest of the people in the hall exhaled, relieved.

James grinned.  "Come on, Lily, let's leave these weirdos to themselves."  He said, putting his arm around her and guiding her out the door and down the hall.

*c'est fini!!  Before you say anything, yes I know it's short... Anyway, I hoped you all liked it and I'll try to get the first chapter of whatever gets the most votes up soon...granted I STILL have to think of a title...help if you can...but it'll be up, hopefully by October?  If you feel I'm procrastinating, you can bug me, I promise I won't hurt you (badly).  lol.  Anyway, REVIEW and VOTE!! It's your civic duty!! lol  
  



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